Declaration
by screamingedge
Summary: His name is Ziri Axlhedron. Bullied all his life, he's begun his journey in Johto, confronting the establishment, legends, the general population, searching to rise beyond his New Bark Town beginnings and rise above to his destiny. Accepting OC requests
1. The smokescreen scramble

**This is my first story in almost a year after my last update to Grudges. **

**It comes curiously at a time where I'm going into my sophmore year, and summer is almost over. Call it procrastination, and you wouldn't be too far off the mark.**

**Pokemon has always been a source of fascination to me, the infinite ways battles can go as well as how moudable stories centered in this world can be, so I've decided to take one of those ways and bring it to life through writing. **

**Happy reading everyone, and please review!**

* * *

His name is Zirienji Axlhedron. But for the sake of simplicity, he's known as Ziri.

He lives pretty much alone with his mother; His father died years ago thanks to complications of a deadly duo of diseases. The two- Heart failure and lung cancer, came from smoking. He found this out when he was ten. He's now fifteen, living in New Bark Town.

He's a shy youth, always feeling at home on the sidelines as he watches the cute girls get snapped up by the buff but idiotic (And in some case plain ugly) jocks. He's been declared cute by many, many girls- But, for the sake of popularity, nobody sticks long to this scrawny nerd with the top grades in New Bark Junior High. They say scrawny. That's what they say.

Today is the day that he gets his first Pokemon. Today is the day of his journey to begin, to rise above the crowd, to embrace destiny. Because looks are never to be trusted, and that has never been more true when you talk about Zirienji Axlhedron.

* * *

That day, he woke up in bed- And promptly rolled off.

After he was finished yelling curses not meant for the young to hear, he picked himself up, groaning as he went. Sweeping his eyes across the room, past the Treecko plushy, the Jigglypuff poster that his mother had bought for him over his pitiful protests, and the mat emblazoned with a Relicanth- He liked ancient Pokemon, so he had chosen that particular one. Over his mother's pitiful protestations. Payback, but at least these days they were on speaking terms.

He sighed, and sat on the bed's edge, drawing a calloused hand through his wavy, sandy-brown hair. Some days back then, after his father's death, the grief had seemed so palatable in the house that he swore, that when outside, he could see a sort of aura. His mother had taken it quietly- Until a Shuppet had moved in, and they were forced to get over it. Well, she was- He had yelled at it with such fury over disturbing his mother's mourning that it instantly fled, but he had then proceeded to tell her to get over her husband's death in such direct terms that they couldn't speak to each other for a month without at least a few angry glares- His reasons being her bringing a Shuppet into the house with her stupid grieving, and her reasons being that he wasn't respecting her or his father's memory- To which he hotly retorted he had never really met him.

The clock read 8:43 A.M.; it was almost time to go. It was his appointed day to go beyond the safety of New Bark Town, with a partner Pokemon.

He looked at his right fist, clenched it, and stood up. Time to get going.

* * *

He left the house with a backpack over his shoulder, light blue cargo pants, and a white shirt that had three red bands on each sleeve, arranged laterally. The backpack contained three day's worth of light meals, a spare potion for his Pokemon, which ever one that might be, and finally some freshly picked berries.

"_They're my last gifts to you."_

"_Mom, they aren't! I'll come back, I swear!" _

"_Well… they'll be for the next few months. Use them slowly, will you?"_

"_I will. Wish me luck!"_

The excitement was gone, but the drive was still there. Just, in a different form. Time to get away from the wasted years here on the sidelines.

He turned to the lab, as he looked around, past the houses lining the street. Memories. Unpleasant ones, mostly. Down the memory lane, literally and metaphorically.

The meadow in front of Professor Elm's lab took up an entire block, but it, alone, had at least some happy memories for him. The track, where he had woken up at six in the morning just to have for himself. It wasn't a large block, one fifty feet to a side, but a hundred laps in twenty minutes gave him endurance and lung power to match or even exceed those jocks that had so tormented him. And the children, just watching them, he couldn't help but smile. It was July, a warm morning morphing into a hot day. Classic Johto.

The lab door was almost in front of him as he took one last look at the meadow, before he heard the automatic door slide to admit him.

A deep breath, and he stepped in.

* * *

Unbeknownst to him, or the inhabitants of the lab within, there was another boy outside the lab, on the other side exactly from where one Zirienji Axlhedron was entering. This boy had short, spiky green hair. No, he did not dye it nor was he on drugs. He was simply naturally a green-headed young man of fifteen.

As he peered at a table where three indentions were made, of which only two were filled…

* * *

"Hey, professor," he called through the lab as he walked in, "What's new?"

The aides looked at him and rolled their eyes. "He's been nursing his hand ever since the Totodile bit him on the hand," one hissed to Ziri. "I almost died laughing."

Ziri sighed. "Does he ever learn?"

All the aides knew Ziri as the volunteer who fed, watched over, and generally took care of all the Pokemon the lab studied- Mainly because the lab was short-staffed and Professor Elm was too disorganized and spontaneous to note carefully the conditions of his Pokemon. He treated them timidly, when he first started, but now it was with tenderness so heartfelt and ridiculously loving that the aides commented on exactly how tearful the Pokemon were when they had to leave him. He shrugged it off, but deep inside, he felt a stab of pain every time that happened.

Not that he'd ever show it.

The head researcher so mentioned at Ziri's entrance into the lab crashed down the stairs, his glasses lopsided. "Did someone call?" He asked in a faraway voice as he straightened his disheveled clothes and accessory.

The boy sighed. "Yes, professor," he sighed, "Isn't today the day I get my Pokemon?"

* * *

The boy outside heard everything. And then, he felt the anger course through his veins.

He had already planned this moment, for a week now, and then someone, a rather pretty and voluptuous girl with long dark red hair had swiped the Chikorita. And now this scrawny nobody was here to take another one!?

* * *

He closed his eyes. "Can the table spin?" Ziri asked, his hand hovering over the table.

He heard machinery moving, and the three indentions in the table, one already empty, began to move as per their preset pattern, etched on the surface by whoever designed it.

_This will be my partner for life. _

_I swear, whoever I choose, I won't let it down. _

* * *

What was this fool doing? Closing his eyes and holding his hand over the table? Did he think this was a game of roulette?

It did seem like it, and the boy outside allowed a cruel smile to cross his face, as he imagined the one inside playing the Russian variety, with a fully loaded gun.

* * *

Zirienji Axlhedron made his choice.

He picked up the red-and-white sphere, and pushed the button, with closed eyes.

When he opened them, on the floor was an animal resembling an echidna, with a long snout, a large patch of bluish-black fur stretching across its back, where multiple patches of red lay on its main body. Stubby forearms and legs complemented this (Though no claws), along with curiously shut eyes that nonetheless viewed his new owner with curiousity.

"Cynda?" It inquired in a high voice, as it paddled towards the shaken boy.

Ziri dropped to me knees as he offered a shaky hand to it. Would it-?

It immediately jumped onto it. He was surprised by its light weight, for all it's stoutness, as it ran up his shoulder- Where it promptly clutched his head to stop itself from falling off.

Ziri couldn't help but laugh along with the rest of the lab as its stubby limbs tried to wrap themselves around his head, with little success.

"Here, little guy," He said as his arms gently took it off his right shoulder and cradled it within his arms. It squeaked contently at this warm hug, and…

Promptly blasted up flames from its back that missed singeing his face by inches had he not thrown it back at the last second.

Ziri glared at it, but the look shifted to a grin as it gave the look of innocence. THE look of innocence, so he had no chance to fight it.

Everyone in the lab began clapping, and out of instinct he looked around, to find everyone with smiles on their faces.

"Congratulations, Zirienji Axlhedron," Professor Elm declared, "You now own a Cyndaquil."

The boy in question took a bow, while he new Cyndaquil squealed happily.

"By the way," the head researcher said quickly, "Could you run an errand for me?"

He groaned, along with the rest of the aides. "What did you forget today?"

* * *

The boy outside only sneered at the boy inside, who now cradled his new friend within his arms.

"Fool," he murmured, "What do you think Pokemon are? Friends? Only idiots would think that…"

* * *

Outside, Ziri turned to his Pokemon, now happily chirping its name while following him.

Immediately stopping when it saw it now had the attention of its new trainer, it stared at him curiously, wanting to hear anything and everything he had to say.

"Um," Ziri said hesitantly. "I'm Ziri, and…"

"Are you hungry?"

Immediately it chirped a "Quil!" which he took to be a yes. Taking off his backpack, he rummaged through, until he found the Pokeblock case that he had found a few months ago in the grass of the meadow that he was standing in front of. It still had some Pokeblocks in it, but since he made his own anyway it was filled chock-full to the brim. The way his Cyndaquil acted, he was sure that it had a jolly sort of nature. However, just to be sure, he took out Professor Elm's second gift- The Pokedex- And pointed it at his new friend.

"**Cyndaquil, the Fire Mouse Pokemon. It flares flames from its back to protect itself. The fire burns vigorously if the Pokémon is angry. **("Or maybe when it gets a bit overboard with showing affection?" He grumbled to himself.)**When it is tired, it sputters with incomplete combustion." **

Pushing the navigation buttons, it soon analyzed the nature…

Coming up with a dismal "Unknown. Further time needed to analyze. Please wait at least a day."

Ziri stared, flabbergasted-He was supposed to hold this thing up for a DAY? But that fear was soon dispelled, as the machine said "Please put away Pokedex and wait another day," with a hint of annoyance.

"Nasty beyotch" the boy muttered as he complied.

He decided to give a spicy flavor a shot, anyway. Wasn't this thing a fire breathing echidna or mouse, depending how you looked at it? He didn't know it's gender, but he'd find out later. Stooping down, he offered the purple block to the Cyndaquil, which, after looking at it curiously, snapped it up.

After munching happily for a few seconds, its back flared up, which he couldn't help but laugh at. "A recharge, huh?" Ziri said lightly, as he put away the case.

That's when he noticed the smoke- A whole lot of smoke coming from his new friend's back. Immediately backing away…

He suddenly stopped as he hit something.

He had been walking along the sidewalk though, so it either meant the walls had become alive or…

He slowly looked around to find one Norman Bentley and his gang right behind him.

If there was someone that he absolutely hated in New Bark Town, it would have to be Norman Bentley and by extension his gang of jocks. The way they carried themselves made Ziri's blood boil every time they walked by, but that wasn't the only reason- They were the main reason of his social isolation, giving everyone who even had a half-thought about associating themselves with him the cold shoulder. It got worse and worse through the years till nobody wanted to have _anything_ to do with him anymore in this town. The children at least.

"What're ya doin', punk? Don't you know that this town doesn't permit air pollution?"

The words were out of his mouth before he knew it.

"That a lot coming from you the way you fart, burp, and smell."

The stupid grin on his face immediately dropped to an enraged snarl. "Care to say that when we break your jaw?" He said, as he began stalking forward.

Ziri had already begun backing away form them but now he realized that Cyndaquil was next to him- And the smoke had given him an idea…

"Cyndaquil… use, uh… Smokescreen?" He asked suggestively. He had never ordered an attack, after all, but television had given him the examples.

Immediately, the flames on its back flared up yet again, but this time it was pitch-black smoke- And it was shot dead at Norman's gang. Taking the opportunity suggested by the sudden burst of coughing, Ziri yelled "Run!"

Both of them- Cyndaquil and him- Quickly turned heel and sprinted away, Cyndaquil following him. "Oh," the boy quickly improvised, "And keep up the Smokescreen!"

That would be akin to leaving a trail, but if they tried to follow them, then they'd held up by the fresh smoke- And they would be well out of town by then.

* * *

The green-haired boy had seen everything. The feeding, the verbal tradeoff, and now the botched chase as Norman's gang tried to run through the smoke and choked every three seconds. He couldn't resist a sneer at them. Despite his immediate dislike for the new owner of the Cyndaquil, he couldn't help but admire the wise usage of a continuous Smokescreen.

He looked back into the lab and sighed. Only one Pokemon remained.

* * *

When they'd finally reached the outskirts of New Bark Town, Cyndaquil was out of breath, the smoke now coming out in inconsistent bursts just like the flames on its back.

"You can stop now," Ziri said, only slightly out of breath. A testament to the daily routine that he always put himself through (The classic four-and-a-half mile run in twenty minutes per day), he had the endurance to prove it. Scooping up his starter Pokemon in his arms, where it gave an exhausted, but pleased cry, he gave it another Pokeblock, but this time leaned his face away from the patch of red, laughing as it, predictably, reignited the flames.

"We're leaving now," He told it, as it snuggled against him. "We're leaving this place, and we might not come back ever again." The words sent a chill through both his body, despite the growing heat, and his soul, but he shrugged it off. There were more important things to do.

Besides, he had his Pokegear…

Quickly dialing up his mother, he was greeted by an immediate "And you are calling me two hours after you left because…?"

"I just wanted to check up on you," Ziri quickly fibbed.

"Are you homesick already?"

"Will you die after a week without me?"

"Possibly. But I have this number you know."

"True. Love ya, mom."

"Love you too, Zirienji."

He groaned at the last part but couldn't resist the smile spreading across his face as he put the phone away.

"Let's go!" He yelled, and both he and his Pokemon charged into the wilds of Route 29.

* * *

Cherrygrove City was not aptly named.

Declared a city, yet rather small, it had no true signs of a metropolis- Some townhouses, the mandatory Pokemon Center and Pokemart, a Contest Hall, of all things, and civilian houses- But no gym. Still, the cherry groves just outside city limits gave the place its name, along with beauty. The middle of summer, as the time was now, still had some white blossoms fluttering through the air, but most of them had long since fluttered away.

It was here that three weeks earlier, a certain dark-haired girl, with a hint of red there, and a voluptuous body and pretty face to back it up had moved in from Sinnoh, if only to get away from the hectic hustle and bustle of Jubilife City. Although she had initially protested moving to a "city," she immediately shut up as soon as she saw the size, and then, rather loudly, declared that whoever named the city was an idiot, a buffoon, a fool, a nitwit, a bonehead, and many other things.

She had already gotten permission to take her first Pokemon from the lab in New Bark, but she had ran off without getting an escort- And Route 29 had a _lot_ of wild Pokemon. However, she somehow did not encounter a single one on her way to the lab.

And then she got her Chikorita, which she quickly named Flora, and took her time on the walk back. Which, technically was necessary, given she was wearing two-and-a-half inch sandal heels. You couldn't say stiletto, but you couldn't say flats either. Oh well.

She had cut a rather large swathe of destruction with her new Chikorita, intentional or not as she blasted her way through Route 29, with Tackles and Growls.

For that reason, Zirienji Axlhedron met the first wild Pokemon that he caught.

* * *

As he and his Cyndaquil looked around as they walked, they were assaulted.

By an Aipom.

Immediately flipping open his Pokedex and pointing it at the new face, which now chattered angrily at them, the electronic encyclopedia immediately stated "**Aipom, the Long Tail Pokemon. It's tail ends with a dexterous, hand-like appendage. However, because it uses the tail so much, Aipom's real hands have become rather clumsy.**"

He looked up, as Cyndaquil stared at the dancing, simian Pokemon with curiosity. The Aipom, not liking the attention, immediately stopped dancing and began swiping with its forelimbs, in what he recognized as a Scratch attack.

"Cyndaquil, get back!" Ziri shouted. As it immediately complied, the Aipom made a dash towards the fire mouse…

...That ended in a fall-on-the-face on the ground.

Everything went silent- The birds, the insects, the rustling of the grass, even the wind. And then the further angered Aipom popped up, and life resumed.

He opened his mouth to order an attack…

When he realized that he knew no attack that Cyndaquil knew save Smokescreen. Whipping out his Pokedex in a hurry while his Pokemon led on the Aipom in a wild-goose chase, the boy quickly scanned the moves list.

Tackle, Leer, Smokescreen…

_Leer?_

This thing's eyes weren't even open! But he ignored this apparently physically impossible fact of life and called out, "Leer!"

Immediately, the Aipom stopped as his Cyndaquil looked at it in a rather demeaning fashion… Or so he thought. Capitalizing on his advantage, Ziri yelled "Tackle!"

Immediately, his Pokemon charged and slammed into the still frozen mini-ape, which bounced along the ground screeching "AiAiAipom!" Popping back up, it began to move its tail rapidly, this time, making Cyndaquil stand still in fascination. Now it charged-

"C'mon, Cyndaquil! Pull yourself together and get in one more Tackle!"

Shaking its head, the fire mouse threw itself forward, and before the Aipom realized it, it was thrown backwards again. As it got up woozily, he rummaged through his bag, intending to capture it like they did in the shows…

And realized in a panic the professor hadn't given him any Pokeballs to start, save Cyndaquil's, and he couldn't use that for reasons even half-wits should know.

That's when his fingers found a spherical object with a depressible button. In panic, he threw it, catching a glimpse of red and white, before it bopped the Aipom dead between the eyes.

Ziri, along with the entire world yet again, held his (And their) breath, as it shook once, twice, thrice, and stood still, the button glowing red for a second before fading.

"Cynda?" his partner inquired as he walked over, and unsteadily picked up the sphere.

He had caught it, fair and square. The boy held it above his head for a minute, as whoops of celebration burst through his head; then he calmed down, and pressed the button.

In a flash of light, the Aipom appeared and looked at him. "Ai?"

"Um, hi?" Ziri said suggestively.

The Aipom immediately held out its tail, which he instinctively took and shook. It then looked around, and finding the Cyndaquil padding its way over, it shrieked in fright, and turned to run, only to collapse.

"Hey, are you okay!?" Ziri practically shouted as he gingerly picked up his newfound Pokemon. It cowered away from his Cyndaquil, who looked on, bemused at the apparent fear. Cradling the Aipom in his arms, he opened his Pokedex to scan it, just for information.

Moves: Scratch, Tail Whip, Doubleslap.

Gender: Female

Nature: Timid.

_Timid?_

"That explains it," Ziri mused. "And it must be hurt from its battle with Cyndaquil…"

"But why was it so angry?"


	2. The trio gathers

**As one can tell, I'm now accepting OC requests, since this story is OCcentric. Shoot- I'll consider anything! Gotta review to tell me who and what though... **

**Oh, and as for disclaimers: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON BECAUSE THEN TYRANITARS WOULD HAVE BASE STATS OF 670 INSTEAD OF 600, MAKING IT A SUPER PSUEDOLEGENDARY.**

* * *

Two-and-a-half-hours later, he made his entrance into Cherrygrove City, exhausted, like all his Pokemon.

Although Aipom was both hurt and exhausted, Cyndaquil hadn't been hit once during the confrontation, so Ziri just told Aipom to stay back perform finishing strikes while Cyndaquil did the grunt work. This worked most of the time, but then again his Aipom was timid. Oh well. He could tell, though that his Pokemon were gaining strength the way the wild ones had increasing difficulty getting up after an attack.

It was just after twelve in the afternoon, and Ziri was soaked in sweat as he walked the last bit to the Pokemon Center, where he promptly collapsed into a chair, causing uproar over exactly whether this boy with two Pokemon frantically trying to revive him with nudges, pushes, and then shoves was dead.

The case fell into the favor of "Not Dead" when the Cyndaquil flared up its back in apparent panic, and so cause Ziri to jump up roaring in pain as the flames singed his arm. The crowd gathering around all fell backwards in shock, which he lay down again with the annoyed grumble of "I'm sleeping, dammit. And can someone take care of my Pokemon?"

Thankfully, both requests were obeyed. If only out of fear.

* * *

The girl heard all about the uproar with Flora, thirty minutes after Ziri's flashy entrance. After waking up after sleeping in, she was heading to the Contest Hall to try her skills at coordinating- She was very beauty conscious and loved the way coordinators manipulated their Pokemon to create beauty, at least on TV, when she saw the crowd milling about in front of the entrance to the Pokemon Center.

Walking in, she noticed a loose ring of people around some of the chairs that attempted quite badly to conceal themselves into the normal crowd of a Pokemon Center. "Why are they all like that?" She asked the Nurse Joy on duty.

The pink-haired nurse sighed. "Thirty minutes ago, a boy came in with two exhausted Pokemon and proceeded to collapse in a few of the chairs and didn't move, as if he was dead. But he was just resting, as we found out"- She suppressed a giggle at this point "When his Cyndaquil singed him, apparently out of panic."

The dark-redhead, as in hair, not skin, because she already had a tan from many trips to the beach, said thanks for the information, and walked over the crowd to behold the boy that had caused Cherrygrove to rise up in panic. She heard the muted wolf-whistling as the passed through the circle, for good reason. With dark red hair that fell to the middle of her back, a perfect hourglass shape, a rather thin blouse and hip-hugging jeans complete with those two-and-a-half inch sandal heels, she was what one called a flirt- If she was, because she wasn't. Just like her hair, she was fiery and impulsive, almost to a fault. But as she was standing over the boy sprawled onto four chairs, with his right hand turned upwards on his forehead, she was struck by the fact that he was handsome. Cute, if that was the word.

It didn't help that the sweat had not yet faded from his shirt, which stuck to his skin like a sponge displayed, as she scanned a careful eye, very strong pectorals and a chest that most women would die to sink in- Not a single rib dared to push through the skin.

Ripping her eyes from him, she did tripped- Not over her own feet but over his backpack that was lying on the floor. If anything, she was an environmental klutz.

She sharply took in a breath out of surprise as she instinctively held out her hands to cushion her fall. She had no need to- An arm suddenly reached out and snagged her waist and by extension now supported her entire body, all ninety-three pounds of it.

The girl looked in surprise at where the arm came from, and discovered that it, just like its owner, was well sculptured.

The boy's eyes flickered open.

"Please do not crush the contents of my backpack." And then the eyes, briefly staring into her own sapphire ones, shut, hiding once again the solid steel gray eyes that almost had a chilling quality to them. The arm that had supported her now shoved her up to her original position with almost breathtaking ease.

The circle murmured in fresh gossip as she snapped at the prone form lying in front of her, "What if I do!?"

The eyes remained closed, but he spoke. "If you do, I will throw you half way across this place with both arms. You're light you know," he added almost as an afterthought, in the same quiet, emotionless tone that he had used.

She glared at him yet again, but considering how he had been able to stop her with one arm, she supposed that his words had a ring of truth to them, as well, as the chilling quality of his eyes that haunted her vision.

Those eyes…

She turned and left the Pokemon Center just as the care room for Pokemon opened, revealing Ziri's Aipom and Cyndaquil.

* * *

As the girl left, Ziri opened his eyes and turned to see his Aipom and Cyndaquil scampering towards him, letting fly happy squeals.

He yawned, and opened his arms just as they jumped at him. "Hey guys," he laughed as they nuzzled him- And in Aipom's case- gave him a death hug.

"Okay, you win," he managed to choke, and his Aipom let go, the smile on its face even wider than normal.

Thirty minutes later they left the center, after a grand stay of fifty six minutes. The time was exactly one in the afternoon as the trio, two Pokemon and one human, walked on Route 30 to Mr. Pokemon's house.

Now if there was one thing more insensible than a Cyndaquil using Leer, then it would have to be exactly who the hell Mr. Pokemon was. Who called themselves that? Yet, Ziri had been conscripted into the pickup of a parcel from Mr. Pokemon, so he was forced to comply.

Now, he supposed, was a good time to return Aipom to her Pokeball, where she could at least benefit from the cooler air there. Not with Cyndaquil, who after all was called the Fire Mouse Pokemon, but still.

"Aipom, return." He called, and the simian-like Pokemon with the hand-tail stood still long enough to be hit by the beam of red light that sucked her back in.

"Let's go!" he shouted yet again, and just like at the time at New Bark Town, he left Cherrygrove with one Pokemon at his side, but now he had another Pokeball at his belt. He didn't know why it was in there, but his mother had dug it out from the closet just for him, so he supposed it was…

Left by his father…

His stride slowed with that thought, leading Cyndaquil to look at him with worry, but shook it off with a smile and resumed his walk- Thinking could come later.

* * *

An hour-and-a-half later, he found himself in front of a house not unlike the one he had already passed on Route 30. That one had a generous owner- He had passed him an Oran Berry in addition to the bunch that he'd picked on the way here, both on Route 29 and this one. He had fed one to Cyndaquil and watched him squeal with delight, which he couldn't help but smile at. He noticed, though, that he seemed mellower ever so slightly as time went on- Which must mean that it was maturing.

This house, however, had a sign that said, plainly, "MR. POKEMON'S HOUSE" in massive capital letters. He rolled my eyes at this, and yelled sarcastically "Did ya have to be so expressive?"

A second later, the door opened, and an old man wearing sunglasses, a black brim hat, and a black suit- In other words wearing all back save his skin and his gray hair- opened the door. "Did you say something?" he asked the boy as soon as he saw him.

Ziri nodded innocently, and quickly opened my mouth, if it wasn't for him dragging me in over my protests, Cyndaquil following, rather bemused.

Once inside, Ziri looked around. It was sparsely furnished, with a PC in the corner, a couch, and a couple of work desks where yet another old guy, this one in a gray lab coat, was studying something intently and didn't notice their loud entrance.

"So what're you here for? Oh and I'm Mr. Pokemon," he added unnecessarily.

Yet again his mouth opened before his brain even realized it.

"There are things called signs if you haven't noticed, and that sign outside is one of the most attention-getting signs in all of history, Captain Obvious."

Mr. Pokemon merely raised an eyebrow. "Witty lad, aren't you? So, shall we cut to the chase-?"

At that moment the one in gray looked up, saying "It appears that this egg-" Then he caught sight of Ziri.

He laughed, nervously. "Let out more than I should have, eh…? I'm Professor-"

"Oak." Ziri finished for him, wide-eyed. Why in the world was he meeting the most famous of all Pokemon researchers today? "It's an honor to meet you, sir-"

He just waved it off, laughing. "Oh no, no need for the honorifics. Just refer to me as"He caught sight of Cyndaquil looking around. "Eh? What's this? You're a trainer?"

"Well, I just started…"

"And look at this Cyndaquil and its high energy! Considering that it keeps it up, I suppose you've given it good care, no?"

"Yeah-"

"Did you say you were on an errand?" Mr. Pokemon interrupted, looking slightly amused at his situation.

Ziri's neck snapped towards him. "Oh yeah, Professor Elm told me to get a parcel from you…"

"Ah yes," Mr. Pokemon said thoughtfully as he went over to Oak's desk and handed over a spherical object with several markings, red, yellow, and blue scattered over it, as geometric shapes. "This is the mystery egg I've been studying, you see… I need to get it into professional hands… In a professional facility, so I've gotten Elm to work on it," he added, seeing Ziri's mouth open.

He closed it, cutting the remark that it was in professional hands already. He was sure Professor Elm wouldn't screw this kind of thing up like daily, mundane stuff. When the hapless professor got his hands on something that needed focus, he provided it- In a slightly overboard fashion, if anything in Professor Elm's own wacky style. But it worked, if anything.

Ziri took it gingerly, afraid that he'd break it of he applied too much pressure. Oak laughed at this, saying "I've tried to cause a crack in it with a hammer, and that didn't work, nor did accidentally rolling it off my desk onto the floor when I got overexcited."

He then looked at me, and a curiosity emerged in eyes. "You aren't like most trainers, are you? You Cyndaquil isn't afraid at all to get close to you, even though you're avoiding the flame vents… Correct? Oh, and it's a male."

As a matter of fact, Ziri was leaning my neck sideways in case Cyndaquil got a bit too expressive with happiness on my shoulder, but he snapped it back into place at that comment. "Well, yeah," he said guiltily, "But it's just really expressive…"

The teen quickly stepped out, called out a hurried bye, and shut the door, gingerly holding onto the egg. Cyndaquil quickly jumped down and hurried towards Cherrygrove, with Ziri following after he unceremoniously stuffed the egg into his backpack.

And then the Pokegear phone rang.

* * *

Mr. Pokemon stroked his beard thoughtfully. "He's an odd one, to be honest."

Oak nodded. "I feel he has brilliance and drive just below that exterior. He seems timid, but... It'll be up to him to let it loose… And his Pokemon and friends as well to help him."

"Amen to that."

* * *

_Stolen?_

Even in the shorter trip back to Cherrygrove thanks to the ledges that he could jump (Only an hour this time), it was a long trip- But it seemed like a few minutes, thanks to the momentousness of the statement.

The last ball had been stolen. Apparently, the aides had been all out, and there was a ringing at the door when Professor Elm was alone and had shut down the automatic opening sequence. As he got to answer it, apparently someone opened a side window, crawled in, swiped it, and then got out as the professor shook his head at why nobody rang.

Classic. As he lounged in the Pokemon Center waiting for the healing, he looked around. The girl wasn't here anymore, but she was a curiosity- He'd never seen anyone like that, tempestuous, yet with restraints. She was attractive, to be sure, but he had seen his share with attractive girls- Or maybe he never got a good look at her to be sure. After all, one flash of the eyes is never enough, and looks aren't everything either.

The sign above the desk flashed the name **Ziri Axlhedron**, and he got up to see my newly healed Pokemon, with all the wounds that they had taken on the walk up and down Route 30 in the battles with wild Pokemon, disappear. The rather uncomfortable-looking teen collected them, said a quick thanks, and walked out to the Route 29 entrance of the city with his Pokemon snugly in his Pokeballs.

* * *

The boy with green hair was panting underneath the cap, as he had been running for an hour, on and off toward Cherrygrove, stopping only to crush the occasional wild Pokemon in his path with his new Totodile who meekly obeyed his every command.

Slowing down as he observed the sign signifying he was arriving in the cherry fields and therefore was approaching city limits.

He breathed a sigh. Nothing to be scared of he was long gone from New Bark, and with the cap nobody could identify him speeding away from the scene of the crime.

* * *

The girl, with the long dark red hair, was leaving her house on the eastern side of Cherrygrove, rather moodily saying good bye to her family given that she missed the registration by two minutes- The minutes spend talking to that boy. Well, the teen, her age fifteen. She'd be going to Violet City then, in an attempt to find the next contest.

She saw a blur of movement as a boy, another one around her age and wearing a cap that hid his face, dark shorts and a dark gray shirt with nothing but gray, passed right in front of her, to stop, to her shock, in front of the same boy that afternoon that had the same solid steel gray eyes.

* * *

The teen with the cap was stunned.

_Him!? _

The one who had displayed that sickening burst of affection for that Cyndaquil?

He then smirked. Time to crush him and prove him wrong.

He walked up to sandy-haired brunette, and stated in a loud voice for all to hear, "Battle me, trainer."

* * *

Ziri was immediately confused. Why was he challenging him here? "Err, why?" he asked, in something of an instinctively meek voice, the result of being bullied for years when confronted with conflict.

The boy with the cap in front of him smirked. "What are you, scared? If a trainer wants to battle, you obey. That's Pokemon League etiquette, fool."

If there was anything Zirienji Axlhedron wanted to be, it was champion, because then it meant that he could be recognized as a frontrunner instead of being sidelined by everyone. And he was not about to let that happen today.

"Oh yeah? Where's that attitude going to be when I smash you into a paste?" he snarled as he whipped out Cyndaquil's Pokeball.

"Oh, it'll still be there," the boy said jeeringly, "Because I'm not going to lose!"

"Then put your money where your mouth is! Go, Cyndaquil!"

"Go Totodile!"

* * *

The girl watched, apprehensively, as the two trainers revealed their Pokemon. Her mother, a redhead like her, came out from behind, and said softly "The Cyndaquil will lose," as the small echidna-like Pokemon flared up its back flame vents.

She turned, confused. "Why?" she asked, as its opponent, the reptilian Totodile jumped up and down, in a fashion less impressive than the Cyndaquil's "flame on" act.

"Because of type. Water will always defeat fire," her mother answered. "Your Chikorita will lose to the fire-type, but not to the water type- You would win."

The girl turned her attention back to the unfolding battle, with the new information in her head.

"_Water will always defeat fire…"_

* * *

That same thought was running through Ziri's head the afternoon four o'clock sun beat down upon them. If he couldn't get an opening…

He'd create it. "Leer and Tackle!" He shouted.

The Totodile instantly froze up as his opponent charged forward.

"Snap out of it!" his master snapped. "Growl!"

Immediately, Totodile let out a "Totototodile…" that caused his opponent to instantly stop in curiosity.

"Now!" his master shouted triumphantly. "Scratch!"

Immediately, the stubby class of the Totodile flashed in the sun as it took a swipe at Cyndaquil, who squealed in pain and scooted back.

Ziri felt a sense of foreboding, but he quickly dismissed it. "It's not bad! Go for another Tackle!"

This time, Cyndaquil's aim was true; the full body charge sent the minature alligator sprawling. "Get up while it's still close and use Scratch! Now!"

Ziri flinched when he heard the tone of voice, but didn't lose his focus. "Smokescreen into the eyes!" he yelled, praying it would work.

It did. The flames blasting out of Cyndaquil's back sent plumes of smoke that caught his opponent with jaws and eyes open. "That's it!" his owner shouted jubilantly. "Now go for another Tackle!"

The Fire Mouse Pokemon once again crashed into his foe, sending him sprawling. This time, Totodile was slightly slow in getting up, prompting his own master to explode with anger. "_I did not pick you lose, you useless piece of junk! Fight, goddammit! _" he roared.

This time, Ziri couldn't take it. "Shut UP!"

The two trainers glared at each other, black against gray. "Totodile, Scratch until you faint! NOW!" the black-eyed one yelled.

Totodile jumped up so fast, that neither his opponent nor his opponent's master could do anything to respond. Charging forward, he clawed viciously at his foe, cause squeals of pain as the echidna-like Pokemon curled tightly into a ball.

"Cyndaquil, Smoke-" Ziri began to say until he realized that his Pokemon's flames were already shooting out, but not smoke- This time actual flames that reached beyond its natural range.

Totodile yelped in pain as the small bursts of flame blasted into its body, forcing it backwards. The boy with the cap was stunned, to be honest. "What the-"

"Tackle, quick!" Ziri yelled, sensing an opening as the Totodile busily slapped away at the flames.

Cyndaquil quickly uncurled and smashed into his opponent, who flew through the air- And did not move when it landed.

Silence, as he shakily brought out his Pokedex and pointed it at Cyndaquil.

Moves: Tackle, Leer, Smokescreen, Ember.

"Ember," Ziri whispered. Cyndaquil heard him, and blasted a barrage of small flames high into the sky, to the general surprise of the crowd that had gathered. Turning with its squinting eyes, the Pokemon looked at him curiously. "You… You learned Ember?"

Nodding, it quickly scampered over onto his shoulder, where it proceeded to clutch his head to stop itself from falling off.

"We win," Ziri said calmly, though ecstasy was pumping through his system.

His opponent however, was silent. And not even looking at him- He was actually looking at his fallen Pokemon, with a mixture of rage and scorn.

"You," the boy said through gritted teeth, "Couldn't win against an opponent that you had a type advantage against? THAT IS PATHETIC!"

He rushed forward, bringing up his leg to kick his own Pokemon as it weakly attempted to stand.

Ziri snapped.

In on fluid motion, he removed the Pokemon on his shoulder and placed it on the ground, used those same hands to throw himself forward, and slugged his opponent in the face.

The crowd scattered as the punched victim bounced twice before skidding to a stop in front of the girl, who, with her mother, quickly backed away.

Ziri stood, livid with rage, before he picked up the Totodile-

Only to have it bite him.

He howled in pain as he tried to shake it off his hand, which it did not; hence the species classification as the Big Jaw Pokemon. It only let go when Ziri's arm passed close to Cyndaquil's flame, which roasted the tail. When it opened it's mouth to howl, Ziri took the opportunity to whip it into a tree, where it went completely still this time.

He looked at his left arm, breathing hard. There was a lot of blood, as the pentrations turned into slash marks when he tried to throw it off, and even as he watched, it began dripping onto the ground from his fingers. The only reason that the fangs hadn't gone all the way in was the muscles that He'd built up there.

"Great," he half snarled from the pain and was about to head for the Pokemon Center when he heard the clanking of metal. He turned to find a scattered pile of money on the ground, as his prior opponent swept past him, returning Totodile to his Pokeball without a second glance.

Spoils of war.

He looked back, at his arm, and then took off his backpack and released Aipom. "Aipom, could you help me gather this stuff with Cyndaquil?" She immediately nodded- But she still stayed far away from her companion who watched her with sad eyes while he helped. "Now put it all in there…"

They finished collecting the loot and placing it into the niche that his backpack had for it, while the crowd dispersed, muttering to themselves. He shouldered it, wincing as the blood continued to flow off his hand.

And then he heard a thump as white bandage landed besides him, which he discovered as he looked down. Looking around, he caught a glimpse of a few locks of dark auburn hair as the door to the house on his left closed with a curiously large bang.

Surprised, but pleased, he was _not _surprised when nobody answered his quiet "Thanks."

* * *

"Hannah," the girl's mother said gently, "What did you do that for?"

The teen in question stood with her back against the door, breathing rather hard for having done such a small act.

Hannah looked up.

"Just… It just seemed… The right thing to do?" And besides, she quickly fibbed, though the idea that she invented was quickly gaining strength, "I need to train my Pokemon. I want to battle like that," she said, with a faraway voice as within her mind as she imagined flooring her opponents with such ease…

* * *

**So the first battle's ended! Any comments and/or tips for making battles better is welcome, so don't YOU DARE HOLD BACK!!**

**Next chapter- ??? Not written yet. Which means this is the raw form you be reading!!**


	3. The healing

**Things get vicious here, and you'll find out finally why I put Ho-Oh as the catagory. READ. NAAAOOOO.**

**I don't own Pokemon, cuz if I did Giratina would have Shadow Force's power at 140. And Sacred Fire would have a 100% chance of burning**

* * *

The trip back to New Bark Town took only two hours this time, considering that there were now so few holdups with wild Pokemon that Ziri could literally walk by one without fearing attack- Mainly because his two (Uncooperative-with-each-other) partners whacked all that came within ten feet of him.

But his arm was still hurting like hell, and it didn't help that the donated and hastily-wrapped bandage was leaking blood through half way there. But, if he walked faster, blood circulation would rise and lead to more blood loss- So he kept his pace and tightened the bandage.

If anything, that was all he could do. As light slowly dimmed, the six o'clock sun beat down on him as he saw the tops of the houses of his hometown. That's when he promptly collapsed.

* * *

At the same time, in the Pokemon Center of Cherrygrove City, a capped, green-haired trainer was fuming silently.

Two hours ago he'd been handed the worst defeat of his life- And the first, no less.

He replayed every moment in his head; the opening that he had created with the first Scratch. Why had he been so stupid in not following it up? And the Smokescreen trick- Why did he not see it coming? And then there was the impromptu learning of Ember, which he knew he couldn't blame himself for, yet he did.

_If I had finished it off earlier, that wouldn't have happened!_

So it was nothing more than beating himself up.

* * *

On Route 30, another person, this one significantly younger than the trio that had indirectly encountered one another earlier today was walking downwards to Cherrygrove City, which was accountable for the fact that she was new to Johto and so had no clue in hell where to go. A brunette, headbanded to keep her stray locks out of her face with her three Pokemon clustered around her, she was sweating in the Johto sun, which was in actuality hotter than Kanto at this time of year and reciprocally colder when winter roared around.

"Are we ever going to get to the next town?" She wondered aloud. Her three Pokemon, a Charmander and two Eevees, one shiny and one normally colored, all called out their encouragement. The message was clear: _Keep going, we're right behind you. _The Charmander, on her shoulder, was absentmindedly swishing her tail, before the girl realized some of her hair was in danger of being singed.

"No you don't," she laughed, and quickly set it on the ground, where it growled its displeasure before complying.

* * *

Ziri opened his eyes thirty minutes later, cold.

_Cold?_

This was summer in Johto! That kind of thing was physically impossible- Unless you were Regice, but then you got used to it. He held up his left arm, afraid of what he would see.

Definitely not what he wanted to see.

The blood from earlier had crusted over, but there was one hitch- The flesh underneath had taken a sickly yellow tinge that gave off the sensation of chronic soreness.

Pus. Only one way to explain it. He had to get back home…

Looking around, he realized that Aipom and Cyndaquil were around him, their backs to him and looking high, low, and anywhere in between for danger.

"Hey guys," Ziri murmured. The two immediately turned to him with cries of joy, the worry etched on their faces disappearing. He let the celebration go on for a while, before he got Aipom's help in standing up. Namely, by using the tail to raise his body's left side, since his left arm was now useless.

"Stay with me, please" he said, and his Pokemon stuck besides him as asked, not ordered, as he staggered into town.

* * *

"Mom," Hannah asked, at that same time, "How did that Cyndaquil win against that Totodile?"

Her mother, tall and slim like her daughter save for the lighter shade of hair, paused. "I simply have no idea, but I could give you guess…"

"Well, then guess," she suggested, which brought a smile to her mother's face.

"The only two ways that I could think that could have happened is if the Cyndaquil was better trained than the Totodile… Or, if the Totodile acted only out of fear…"

"Which sounds like what happened," Hannah finished. "If I do that, then I won't win anything, will I-?"

"That," her mother interjected, "Isn't totally true. If a Pokemon acts out of fear, but is well trained, then it can possibly fight just as well as a Pokemon that's well trained but doesn't act out of fear. It's almost as if," she said thoughtfully, turning her eyes upward, "That the bond between that Cyndaquil and his trainer was something of a brotherly kind… Almost as if he treated it as if it was family."

"Family?" Hannah inquired in disbelief. "How's that possible?"

"It would just depend on how you treat it," she said matter-of-factly. At that precise moment her Delcatty walked in, purring suggestively. "Like this," she continued, as she cuddled the Prim Pokemon on her lap.

Her daughter watched, unconvinced- But with an idea. "But… How is it possible to give Pokemon love? I mean, you can't go out with them-"

"Hannah!"

"Sorry…"

* * *

When Ziri reached the door to his house, raised his right hand, knocked twice, and then experienced such a burst of pain from his left arm that it brought him to his knees before he slumped against the door, unconscious yet again.

His two Pokemon, who had been looking at him worriedly since they had been out (Thankfully, nobody was outside when he stumbled in) immediately raised a storm of squeals and cries of panic, until Aipom realized they should knock on the door, which she did.

Ziri's mother, a worn woman just entering middle life, opened the door and found no one, until she heard earsplitting cries from her feet. Jumping backwards, she never expected her son against the door, whose head that fallen rather harshly onto the welcome mat and accompanied by two Pokemon, both frantically waving at her.

She was tempermental and something of a nihilist when it can to other people, but this was her son, and she'd cut off her own arm before she ignored his welfare. Even if they did have a stormy relationship sometimes.

Scooping him up, immediately noticing the yellow blotch on his left arm and the bloodstained bandage, she laid him out of the couch and disappeared- Only to reappear a second later branding a cold pack which she laid on his arm before feeling his forehead. A high fever, no doubt about it.

She quickly left the house, not caring to keep the door closed, for the pharmacy- Which, conveniently, was on the other side of the meadow in front of Professor Elm's lab.

* * *

When she got there, with the intention of crossing the meadow to the pharmacy, she was struck by the array of lights, police officers, and reporters in front of the laboratory. Drawn in despite the urgency of her son's condition, she joined the crowd and spotted a very flustered Professor Elm talking to the local Officer Jenny. "We don't know who did it at the time, but-" That's when he saw her.

"Mrs. Axlhedron!" Elm shouted and began shoving his was through the crowd, two of his bewildered aides. "Have you seen Ziri? I talked on the phone to him a few hours ago, do you know where he-?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," she said loudly for all to hear. "He's at home, suffering from a high fever, unconscious with a bloody bandage on his left forearm."

Immediately the reporters turned to Elm. "Sir, what does this have to do with-?"

"It has many things, but I cannot explain everything now!" he said, raising his hands. "Please, I must speak with this woman privately. An official statement will be released from this laboratory when all the evidence is assembled!" Then, to her, "Where are you going now?"

"The pharmacy."

"Alright, I'll come over to your house when I've sorted everything out here. Ziri ran an errand for me, and it's very important; besides, he's the best helper here, so I suppose I should be worried for his welfare."

The boy's mother nodded and hurried along the sidewalk- She had spent too much time talking, while the Professor promptly walked into the lab, shut the door, and snuck out through a back exit.

* * *

Ten minutes later, both came back to the house, Professor Elm in a car (He had to take some back roads) and Ziri's mother. As Elm hurried out, he offered to her a quick apology to her, and ran down the walkway to the Axlhedrons' door…

…only to be Doubleslapped by a three handed paw.

As his glasses fell onto the grass, the mother of the Pokemon's owner stepped over the bemused professor and scolded the angry Aipom. "You naughty monkey, he's here to help! Don't hit anybody in this town if you can! I don't even know why my son caught you…"

She stopped when she realized that now it was hiding behind the blackish-blue echidna with tears in its eyes.

"Well," she said, still have having an annoyed tone to it, "Let's go in, shall we?"

And she crossed the threshold to see a formerly ice-sold cold pack to be sitting limply on his head, only a sack of cold liquid. Quickly taking it, she was startled to find that the pack was lukewarm- The fever was even worse than it seemed.

As the befuddled (Still) professor staggered into the room, he caught sight of Ziri and instantly snapped into attention. "What happened to him? And why haven't you taken that bandage off!? It's constricting his blood flow to his hand!"

Suddenly guilty, she complied, to discover, to both her and the profesor's horror, fang marks.

She had a mini-swooning fit, but she recovered in three seconds. Professor Elm, however, realized something more horrifying.

"Those marks," he murmured, quickly stepping over to examine the coagulated patches, "Those are the correct size for a Totodile's teeth, with on a minor extension which can be attributed to one swinging the arm wildly in pain" Professor Elm smiled ruefully at the memory at how it had happened to him- Yet, as he now saw, these bit marks were nothing to what he had gone through.

"Deep marks… The Pokemon had to bite with the maximum amount of force to produce such penetration… No… It looks like it only bit with half its force… No, it was really the muscle underneath that stopped it…

Ziri then proceeded to crack open his right eye and manage a wry grin.

"Hey, professor."

His mother, who had just come in from the kitchen let out an earsplitting shriek.

"Ziri!"

His mother then proceeded to cause his rib cage to groan audibly- Yes, audibly in pain. "Mom," he groaned, "I thought… You were trying to… Gurk…"

At the last sound, she quickly let go. "Are you feeling sick? Light-headed? Or-"

"That one," came the mumble.

Yet again, another disappearance into the kitchen.

Elm immediately seized the initiative. "Can you tell me what happened with your arm?"

Ziri nodded, and then turned his vision to the ceiling. "I was walking out of Cherrygrove, the Route 29 entrance, when this guy with a cap on all of a sudden came running from the direction of this place" The professor raised an eyebrow at this "and stopped in front of me. Said he wanted to battle." Ziri was cut off at this point by another jolt of pain from his left arm, that stopped him from speaking for the next few seconds, then he struggled on.

"So I sent out my Cyndaquil and he sent out the Totodile-"

"A Totodile!?" Profesor Elm exclaimed.

The boy on the couch, lying there like he had lain on those chairs at the Pokemon Center, turned his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "I don't have any deficiencies in speaking, so could you please not interrupt? If you've gotta yell, yell in your head."

Elm, although years Ziri's senior, immediately turned red and mumbled an incoherent apology.

"Okay, so I managed to beat him. So then, he was yelling at it for losing and was about to kick him, so I punched him as hard as I could and tried to pick up the Totodile. One problem- It bit me first. Then someone gave me a bandage to wrap the wound up with and I wanted to stay in the Pokemon Center, but I needed to get the egg to you. Now here I am, sick, with a mangled arm. Oh, and the thing you wanted is in my backpack."

Professor Elm did not move for seconds afterwards. "Err, prof…?"

He snapped back to attention. "Oh yes," he said quickly, and opened the backpack's side zipper to discover the egg.

Quickly grasping it, he said, in a dramatically hushed voice, "So this… this is it…"

He turned to the reluctant delivery boy. "Thank you for all your help. This will aid my research greatly…"

"Don't… mention… it…"

Not hearing those words, he went on about the benefits of science it would bring, until Ziri's mother came in, and saw that her son had lost consciousness. Letting loose a shriek that echoed through the neighborhood and could have awakened the dead, she dropped but then caught the cup of Earl Grey tea that he had brewed, quickly set it on a table, and cradled her son's motionless- Save for breathing- form.

What panicked her most was how shallow it was.

* * *

It was midnight. The last doctors had left. New Bark Town had no hospital, so it was mostly house care that did the trick to cure whatever aliments that a resident had, save some practicing physicians.

But their prognosis of Zirienji Axlhedron was grim. The infection had spread all the way along his arm, and would enter his lungs any second. They had never seen _anything_ so horrific happen to someone so young in New Bark Town, they said, shaking their heads in disappointment at their inability to help him. They all said that this was some kind of disease that perfectly aligned itself with his immune system; therefore, he could not fight it nor offer resistance to it.

His mother's head fell in exhaustion. There was nothing she could do for him anymore. His two Pokemon around him were silently mourning his impeding death, and Professor Elm refused to leave his lab as the diagnosis spread across town in waves. His aides said that he was wracked in guilt that he'd sent the boy of fifteen on the journey that killed him. The egg lay forgotten on the table. The first day he got his Pokemon would be the day he died.

She murmured a good night to her son, knowing it did not register in his brain, and slowly trudged up the stairs.

* * *

On Route 30, the girl with the long brown hair and the headband finally found the perfect sleeping spot, where her Pokemon cooed sleepily in relief at not having to sleep on hard ground. Instead, they found thick, lush grass that acted like a cushion of sorts, almost like a mattress underneath the stars.

As she sighed at the wasted day wandering in circles along Route 30, she and her Pokemon realized a golden light was spreading through the sky. Looking upwards…

* * *

At the exact same time, the boy who was partially responsible for Ziri's current condition was looking out beyond the town in the trainer rooms of the Pokemon Center of Cherrygrove City. As he thought about what he could do about his future matches against him, in case they ever came, he saw the same bright light burst through the sky, and looking towards its source…

* * *

Simultaneously, a third person watched the magnificent golden bird flap its wings across the skies. Hannah, unable to sleep from what had transpired today, was staring upwards at the ceiling to her room when she saw the same golden light. Looking out, she could not believe the seven-colored bird that flew through the sky.

As if on cue, all the Pokemon of the forest and skies around Cherrygrove City and New Bark Town raised their voices and cries to honoring this deity.

It continued flying, towards New Bark Town, leaving three trainers-to-be confused…

* * *

Every Pokemon along those routes instantly sensed it.

_Ho-Oh is near. _

Therefore, Cyndaquil and Aipom, in their lonely vigil for their about-to-be-dead master sensed the great bird of legend flying towards them. They did not know who he was; they were relatively young Pokemon, after all. However, they felt the power that Ho-oh radiated through his rainbow, and they instantly felt instinct call on them.

Instinct called on them to call Ho-oh down, no matter the consequences, and try to get his help.

They quickly hopped out the window, Aipom having less difficulty that Cyndaquil, and ran as fast as they could towards the approaching radiance.

Five minutes later, after a session of breakneck sprinting, they stopped to rest, noticing that the golden light above them was growing brighter and brighter. Not just because they were running, also because the source was growing nearer.

And so, they looked up to behold the red-and-gold bird in all its glory. Now the pair's thought was, as they looked at each other in sudden panic: "CyndaCynda!!" and "AipomAiAi!!"

_How do we get him to see us? _

Their solution was simple.

* * *

Ho-oh flew over the forests, the towns, and the mountains as he easily pumped his wings again and again through the warm summer air. Pokemon behind and under him crowed, roared, squealed, and waved in tribute.

But…

As Ho-Oh looked down, he discovered something different from all others. He saw a small but bright flame that seemed to be waving at him. Swooping downwards, he pulled in his wings and smoothly dived for the earth.

When he was a mere hundred feet above the ground he spread them open and beat them, again and again, toppling more than only a few trees and sending more than only a few Pokemon into a wild storm of revolutions as he skimmed the ground.

He stopped, seeing the source: A Cyndaquil and an Aipom that had been waving its counterpart on its tail skyward, and who had in turn flared its flames skyward in order to get its attention.

Ho-Oh landed, causing the ground shake slightly, and folded its majestic wings into its body. Looking down on the pair that was now cowering in front of them, he asked in a squawk, "_Why have you called me down?"_

Now, the Cyndaquil stood up to its full height, looking straight up at the phoenix with all the resolution that it could must. "_Um… We… We wanted to ask for your help…_"

Suddenly, the grass and trees were filled with annoyed squawks and shouts. "_That's all you called him down here for!?_" came the combined cry. Ho-Oh, however, silenced them with a wave of its head, and turned back to the two. "_Who needs help, little ones?_"

"Our master-" the Fire Mouse said, gaining courage as he went, but he never got the chance to finish that particular sentence.

"_What?_" Ho-Oh roared, suddenly. The air seemed to shake with his fury as he stared down the two with undisguised contempt, who were hugging each other out of fright. "_You… You want me to help a human? Pathetic!_"

"_Why don't you want to help-?_"

"_They are evil, greedy, selfish, and jealous of those with more strength than them! They may have built a pair of towers for us once, but one fell, thanks to their pathetic lust for power! I once believed in them, but now-_"

"_Hear us out!_"

The voice came from Aipom, who, despite being timid, was being stoked to anger rapidly. "_Why_ _do you think that what happened to you means anything about us!?_"

The entire forest stopped breathing.

"_You think the deaths of my fellow creatures meant nothing to me!?_"

"_It means nothing to us! What did this human do to you!? We'll bring you to him and show you how kind, loving he is, nothing like those you talk about!_"

"_You can't! You're young, you know nothing of this world-_"

"_I know one thing, and that's the fact you're selfish and blind! We came to get your help, but if we're going to be rejected like this because of something that happened a long time ago, then… then…_"

Tears began falling out of her eyes.

"_It'll be all your fault we he dies!_"

With that, she whacked her tail against a petrified echidna of fire and said crossly, "_C'mon, let's get away from this pathetic and selfish bird who can't save a life when he can!_"

Silence as they left. Silence, because they were all thinking the same thing. Just because something happened a long time ago…

What did it have to do with anything now, in a place far, far away from that spot, anyway?

Then, Furrets, other Aipoms, Leydbas began following them, while Ho-Oh remained stationary, out of both shock.

And guilt.

As the pair stormed back the way they came from, one in tears and the other in shock, the one in shock endeavored to comment. "_Did… did you just…_"

The one in tears shot him a death glare. "_Yes I did! Do you have a problem?!_"

"_We might die, you know-_"

"_HE'S doing do die, so what's difference-!?_"

"_We can try to prevent it._"

Neither had spoken; rather, it was someone behind them. What the two saw, an Aipom and a Cyndaquil, almost caused them to faint from shock.

A gang of Furrets, Sentrets, some Noctowls, and Leydbas stretched backwards all the way over the crest of the hill they were coming down from.

One Furret in front continued.

"_So, where is he?_"

Twenty minutes later, the combined coalition brought back Zirienji Axlhedron's body in front of Ho-Oh and laid him there. The great bird surveyed him silently, while everyone watched apprehensively. Nobody noticed that a Noctowl had taken the egg with them, out of curiosity.

_Nobody _knew what Ho-Oh would do. Would he roast him, snap him in two with his beak, or stomp him? Or something else?

But everyone there had one thing in common: Nobody liked the rapid, shallow breathing that was heard, nor did they like seeing the great patch of bright yellow pus that hid under the skin on his arm, bloating it almost to snapping point.

Then, Ho-Oh bent his head over the prone form lying before him, and he closed his eyes…

_My entire being hurts._

_Body- Hell on earth. _

_Soul- Same, maybe a bit worse. _

_Mind- Slightly better than body. Yay._

_I don't know where I am, but it feels like something's eating me from the inside… And now, something wants to get in._

_Can't they see I'm dying? Can't they see that I'm taking my last breaths? _

_They're pushing harder. And harder. Soon, my weakened walls, rotted by pain, will buckle. Will nobody leave me alone in the end?_

_Get away. I said, get away. I said, GET __**AWAY!**_

In the real world, both Ho-Oh and Ziri jerked suddenly, the latter suddenly thrashing, before he once again became still.

The onlookers were petrified. What would be the end result in this duel of the minds?

_Ho-Oh had never seen such mental force. It had shoved him almost clear out of the boy's mind, but he had somehow held on. _

"_I'm trying to help!" he roared. As he pushed back in. The pressure returned, but now Ho-Oh expected it. Crashing against the force confronting him, he forced a deadlock. But he knew that he was fighting against one who had mental strength comparable to his own and Lugia. Lugia, perhaps was a shade stronger… _

_But he had never seen anything like this. He knew that the pain must be unbearable to feel for this human, as the force blocking him was erratic and at times fragile, yet it still stubbornly refused to fall. He was lucky- If there was no pain to distract his foe, as Ho-Oh belatedly realized, he would not have gotten anywhere near this far, or survived this long. Now, he sensed multiple forces rising from his being, coming from the sides to crush him once and for all. _

_He began to panic. What was this demonic strength, this ironclad mind, this soul of steel? _

_And he felt it, a burst of sensation from within his opponent's being that caused the defenses to falter. And so, Ho-Oh gather all his strength and threw himself into the soul the boy._

_I've shattered. _

_First the pain, splitting my mind in two. And then, the final push that let him claim victory. _

_I surrendered. Nothing would work inside the core of my being. I can't reject myself, when someone is inside me and therefore __**is**__ me. There is nothing that I can do._

* * *

Minutes had passed in the real world, where all watched in a wretched fascination, knowing nothing of what went on. But the spasms from both beings in deadlock, Ho-Oh and Ziri, told of a titanic struggle within.

And it was won. Ho-Oh wearily raised his head and opened his eyes, and said in a broken voice: "_I was wrong. So wrong..._"

"_I spoke in such stupidity and arrogance. If there's only one thing I can do, then this is it._"

And then he lowered his majestic beak, opened it, and to everyone's surprise breathed out a purple flame that enveloped Ziri's body.

Aipom was speechless, thinking that Ho-Oh murdered her trainer. Cyndaquil, however, was not so sure. Ordinary flames would not have created such a curious color, and why wasn't it catching the grass on fire?

"_You killed him!_" she screeched, and made to rush at Ho-Oh; however, Cyndaquil's front arm stopped her. "_Why!?_" she yelled in grief, the tears going into her eyes again, "_Why are you not attacking him? He's killing our master-!_"

"_He's not!_"

"_Wha-_"

"_Look!_"

And so she did, and to her surprise, he was not being barbequed into a crisp. On the contrary, he looked to be soothed by these purple flames that surrounded him, causing heat but not spreading itself.

The fire faded on its own, and soon, Ziri's breathing became apparent- He was breathing normally again, and as everyone watched by the light of the stars, the sickly yellow on his arms were receding, vanishing into somewhere so that the swelling on his arm completely and truly vanished.

Ho-Oh looked down once at the one he had been defeated by in the battle of souls for which one was more pure. "_What is his name?_"

Cyndaquil answered this time.

"_His name is Ziri... Zirienji Axlhedron._"

Ho-Oh nodded. And to the boy whose purity had overcome his own, he spoke.

_"We will meet again. Someday, somehow, somewhere._"

And so, the Rainbow Pokemon took flight.

Some time later, when Ziri woke up, no sign remained that Ho-Oh had been there, save a pair of indention marks deep in the ground. But in starlight, it was impossible to see.

The teen in question looked around, finding no trace of anything that suggested a previously massive convention of Pokemon, all there to watch him be healed by Johto's guardian of the skies. The Noctowls were back to their hooting, the Furrets were sleeping as always with their juniors the Sentrets, and the Leybda simply landed, concealed themselves in bushes, and fell asleep right away.

But two Pokemon were still with him.

"Guys?" Ziri said in surprise. "What're we doing here?"

He looked around. "Hey, this is Route 29-"

_WHAMWHAM._

His two Pokemon tackled him, sobbing in relief that he was well and truly alive.

He was on the ground, laughing and choking from being unintentionally strangled by Aipom's tail, for a few minutes as all the wild Pokemon looked on.

_Those two were right. _

**

* * *

To Legendary Fairy: I'M SORRYI'M SORRYI'M SORRYI'M SORRYI'M SORRYI'M SORRYI'M SORRYI'M SORRY for not putting in Alex... Well I sort of did. But the battles start up again next chapter and it'll be Charmander vs. Cyndaquil. FLAME ON!**

**To kyuuketsuki fang: Gale comes shortly after that. Stay posted!**

**And thanks to all who reviewed all previous chapters. But still, SOMEONE FAVORITED THIS STORY AND DIDN'T REVIEW? WHAT KIND OF PERSON DOES A SNAFU SITUATION LIKE THAT???**

**Bah! But to all who read and review, you get a million cyberbrownies ;D**


	4. Absolute Departure

**This chapter is long, but it's got one-and-a-half battles in it, so it makes up for it. Happy reading!**

**To Legendary Fairy: This chapter is particularly for you!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon unless you want to see a Colosseum sequel. (COLOSSEUM PWNS! FTW HYPER MODE!)**

* * *

The next morning, Ziri woke up in his own bed, with his two Pokemon sleeping on his lap, having freshly showered, combed his hair, and put on his pajamas. Because of a scream that, once again, would have raised the dead if there was a graveyard with fifty feet of the house.

"ZIRI! OH MY GOD, HE'S BEEN TAKEN! NOOOO-!"

At that point, Ziri burst into the kitchen and yelled in a voice drowning even her screams, "_MOM, SHUT UP! NOW!_"

She looked at him, with her mouth open. Then she punched herself on the side of the head and promptly fainted.

Her son, well and truly alive, rolled his eyes as my Pokemon squealed concern for her. "Don't worry," Ziri told them, "She's always like this when she's confused."

* * *

On Route 30, a girl with brown locks was sleeping quite peacefully, until she was woken up by her Charmander swinging its tail too close to her face thanks to something of an interesting dream she was having.

She immediately opened her eyes, screeching "YEEOWCH! Blaze, what you do that for-!" Jumping up, she quickly slipped down her mild burn to the face, before realizing that her Charmander was now causing a minor forest fire- Obviously, if you realized the tree in front of her was beginning to smolder. Quickly grabbing the sleeping bag she had unrolled for her Eevees, she neglected to take the off manually, so when she whipped it upwards, she realized that her Eevees were now missiles without a target.

They flew into a bush, which somehow inside was soft- If only because of a nest of Pidgey that they landed on. They landed on a Pidgey. Well, two.

As the truly flustered girl finished stomping out the flames, she now realized that her Eevees were speeding out of a bush into her arms, thanks to a pair of very angry Pidgey covered in what looked like… Egg yolk and shells.

Blaze the Charmander now woke up. From her dreams of waffles. Toasty, buttery, waffles. As it yawned sleepily, the Pidgey took sight of this orange lizard with a flame on the tail and went into a coordinated attack; one on the front, one from the back. As one flew overhead, the other went straight into a Peck attack was made a nasty bruise on the Charmander's belly. Yelping, it quickly fired a slew of miniature flames, in an obvious Ember attack.

Looking up, the girl, now seriously wishing she hadn't woken up shouted, "Light, Tackle that Pidgey!" Immediately, the normal colored cream-and-brown fox charged at the bird attempting to get away from the fireballs; however, it did not get away from this fox that charged with a cry of "Eeeee!" and proceeded to send it five feet into the air, before it came down with a thump on the ground.

They had not noticed the Pidgey that had been in the air since this odd encounter started. Diving, it crashed into Light, who squealed as it bounced along with ground with the impact of the attack. "Blaze, use-" she began, but another voice stopped her.

"Totodile, Water Gun."

A burst of water proceeded to blast the Pidgey out of the sky with almost breathtaking accuracy, where it fell onto the ground with a screech of surprise and pain. The girl whirled around, and between some trees saw the user step out with a Totodile at his side.

"Pay attention, you fool," he said coldly. "Why didn't you know that they were also attack from behind?" Then, as one of the Pidgeys attempted to pick itself up, he called out dismissively, "Scratch."

Immediately, with a quick "Tototo," the blue reptile bounded forward and put the Pidgey down. Literally.

"Totodile, return," the boy said calmly. As the lizard turned into energy that was sucked within the Pokeball, he simply walked away, leaving a very confused girl, slightly angered as well, and three mildly injured Pokemon.

* * *

Walking out of the lab absentmindedly, he replayed the events within. The talk with the police, the exclamation that it was a miracle that he had healed so fast, the general questions surrounding the fact he had no scars, and then there was the fact that the Professor had decided to hand over the egg with no strings attached. "Here," he told him, "this egg will be more, shall we say, _comfortable _around Pokemon. Think of it this way; With Pokemon, the egg will hatch, thanks to something of… An incubational method, shall we say? Around Pokemon, it will hatch; just being studied in the lab won't help. Reminds me of a case some time ago where an egg wouldn't hatch until I gave it too a trusted trainer and his friends," the Professor had said, with a thoughtful look in the eye. "So you'll need to keep it with you."

Wonderful. Extra cargo. "There had better be a good end result to this," he grumbled, as he finally looked up.

To find what looked like all the people of New Bark Town looking at him, no doubt about it. And leading the mob was none other than Norman Bentley.

"Awesome, you got me a welcome back committee for me," Ziri said, as he realized that the crowd was only made up of the youth, and most, save the Norman and the gang, looked rather nervous being here.

"You always were a smartmouth," he said simply. "So, let's see what your mouth can do when we-"

"Oh yeah," Ziri said, with a scornful snigger, "Remember the air pollution comment? Well, there _is _this thing called shampoo for getting it off, but since it's you, it'll take three bottles…"

Half the crowd couldn't help but smile- The rest of the non-gang gang crowd looked like they were going to die from keeping the laughter inside. "Don't interrupt your seniors, punkass. It's called respect-" one of the main gang began, but Ziri immediately cut in.

"Seniors?" Now my eyebrows were raised. "You and your gang are my _seniors_? You know how stupid that is? I mean, like, you've failed your third, fifth, and ninth grade, you've been arrested eighteen times the last two years alone, and-" Norman's face was slowly beginning to color red, "You're fifth to last in the rankings. You know what's my ranking? Number one, GPA of 4.11, beyotch. Yours? 1.07. You only got passed through because your dad paid off the teachers."

The last part, he had fibbed, but now the entire crowd except for the core of the gang was terrified, most with wide-eyes at him or shaking their heads no at him, no, don't go on. He couldn't help but grin. Nobody in the crowd except for the gang here hated him- They just felt sorry for him, as they had relutctantly given Ziri a wide berth at school.

He hated them. And all the anger that he had pushed in from the fifteen years of his life deep within him was bubbling out uncontrollable. He could not stop it- He did not want to stop.

"And all of you," he said loudly, "Why the hell won't you do anything? Are you guys just their lapdogs, like in school, where all that mattered was whether you'd be invited to his block birthday party? Why don't you say anything? He's pathetic, stupid, fat, smelly, and the very reason that this town sucks for me- But all of you," he added, sweeping his fingers in a large arc in front of him, "helped him. Gave him a reason to tell everyone that I was a sicko, I did drugs, or that I cut my wrists. I've got nothing in this stupid town. All the pride I feel for this place has vanished. Tell me, dumbass," Ziri said, almost as an afterthought, "What began this stupid campaign to make me a living poison that nobody touches, or they die?"

Silence, as everyone refused to meet his eyes, from anger at being declared with he thought of them deep in his heart, or guilt for having their worst fears about what they were in his mind.

"_TELL ME! NOW!_" he roared, so hard that across the town and beyond for three miles birds flew, fell, or leapt off their perches in surprise.

All the people there in the square took a step back, but not Norman. Although shaken, he stood his ground, and bellowed "We were here to tell you that we all hate you for the trouble we bring to this town!"

Ziri knew that this day would come, but it still hurt. But, as if on cue, his Pokemon all released themselves, snarling at the crowd.

Well, if you can call angry squealing snarling.

"That's it?" he asked, and he threw back his head and laughed. "That's it!" he roared, as the wind picked up.

The crowd winced guiltily as it heard this loud mocking laughter.

Then he stopped laughing. "Okay," he said. "That's pretty pathetic. Even you, no matter how dumb, stupid, useless you are should know that."

"Well I don't!" Norman suddenly yelled. "I don't care! You're the one who suddenly always takes the high grades, and then you were even more popular than me! But I changed all that so that you, with all your friends gone and everyone avoiding you for the disgusting trash you are, being a bastard child-"

"WHAT?" Ziri roared.

"It's true all along, huh? Your father never married your mother, so you-"

"My father was gone and _dead _by the time you moved here! He was gone when I was born because of-"

"Because he was too ashamed to stay? Because he was too scared raising a bastard child-"

Ziri snapped.

He exploded forward, in a motion not unlike what he had done yesterday, hands on the ground to help with the springboard motion along with his legs, and threw himself forward.

He saw it in his enemy's face, the look of fear as the steel gray reflected in his own black. Only the steel gray was literally burning with the emotions within. He could see it, and it gave him pleasure that there was fear in his enemy's eyes as his right fist, drawn back, began closing in on his face.

The blow echoed across the square as Norman Bentley was lifted off his feet and into the air, where he landed like a slab of meat on concrete, taking some of his gang down with him.

Though his knuckles ached, Ziri looked at them with an odd, jubilant ringing within his head. He had done it, ripping away the layers of forced calm to reveal the boiling mass at the very core of his soul. And this person in front of him was the person to take it.

He looked up; all eyes were on him. Some with fear, some with relief, and some he couldn't tell. He would never be able to, though.

"I'm leaving this town. I'm leaving this town forever and never coming back. All of you, disappear from my life."

He began walking, alongside his two Pokemon who paddled besides him.

He didn't get far before Norman stormed up the street, yelling "I'll kill you! I swear to god, I will kill you! Go, Machoke!" And so he whipped out a Pokemon which released the massive, human-shaped Superpower Pokemon. Roaring, it eyed my two, basic-formed Pokemon derisively with an arrogant "Choke," before it settled into a combat stance.

"Machoke, destroy them!" Norman screamed, both blood and spit flying from his bleeding mouth. "Submission!"

The Machoke rushed forward, arms raised, when Ziri yelled, "Aipom, Fake Out!"

Immediately, Aipom dived at the Machoke's face and managed to give a glancing blow to the face, which caused it, by both surprise and sensation of being hit, to raise its arms to protect it, stopping the execution of the move.

"Now, Cyndaquil! Ember!" The Fire Mouse's back flared, firing several small bolts of flame of the Machoke, who yelped in pain as it tried to swat the flames.

"Aipom, Scratch! Cyndaquil, Tackle!"

First Aipom popped up to its face to deliver a sharp swipe, which it howled it, and tried to swat away. It would have, if a second later Cyndaquil hadn't smashed into its face. This time, it didn't even make a sound as it fell backwards, befuddled, causing an earthshaking crash.

The crash had done more damage than anything, Ziri figured, so he turned to leave…

Only to find his way blocked by one Norman's faithful gang members; the guy in question was behind him, screaming profane insults at his unconscious Pokemon both in panic, rage, and disbelief.

As for the person in front of him, no problem. Ziri didn't even think about pulling off a straight jab to the stomach; the rush of air told him he had succeeded. "Cyndaquil, let's run!" he yelled when he noticed more gang members heading our way. "Smokescreen as we go!"

They took off at high speed- Well, Ziri took off at somewhat of a slow speed as to not leave his Pokemon in the dust. But those two were fast anyhow, so they easily outran his overweight gang.

The trio was ten steps into Route 29, the boy's backpack bumping up and down when a wheezy yell came through.

"Yeah that's right! Go- cough- on! Run- Cough! Coward- Cough!"

He was too high to directly respond about the fact that he was being insulted, so he yelled back "Bye, shitheads in the shithole! Have a nice, smelly life!"

And then Zirienji Axlhedron was gone from New Bark Town forever.

* * *

They ran for another twenty minutes before Ziri suddenly fell onto his knees and began crying. His Pokemon behind him slowed as they tried to ask what was wrong.

"What am I doing?" he sobbed. "What am I doing? Why am I running? Why did I just do that?"

His companions could offer no words, only consolation in their friendship and presence.

* * *

The girl finally succeeded in reaching a town. Well, as the sign said, "Cherrygrove City ahead, Route 30 behind."

She was flabbergasted. How in the world did she end up in the middle of a route? Who was that weird ferryman that flew that strange airship, waved goodbye rather cheerfully, and left her alone with her three Pokemon on the middle of the road?

Well, at least there was a Pokemon Center now. She skipped towards it, happy both she and her Pokemon, one on her shoulder and two padding besides her, could finally get a rest.

* * *

A few minutes of the weeping and Ziri finally rose up, shaking slightly from the remnants of the grief he felt. New Bark Town was his home, no matter has screwed up it was. And there was mom. How was he ever going to see her again? He'd sworn to never return- Did he have to break his vow?

As if dead on cue, his Pokegear rang. He looked at his display, and his blood instantly ran cold. Speak of the devil.

_Mom._

He hesitated, before clicking it open and putting it to his ear, expecting roars of outrage.

"Ziri, where are you now?"

He had _definitely _not expected that, now the tone of voice, quiet and resigned. "I'm… I'm on Route 29," he quickly said.

"Good."

What the heck?

"I'm sorry for yelling the last part, Mom, I'll come back-"

"Don't."

Super what the heck.

"Are you really my mother?"

"Yes, Zirienji Axlhedron. This is your mother, and swear to me that you will keep your promise to stay away from New Bark Town forever."

"But-"

"No buts. To tell you the truth, your father left this place just like you did, with a gang hot on his tail and a vow to never come back. I came here because he said that once he makes a promise, then he'll abide by it forever. Can you swear to me that you'll have the same strength to do that? You always have, just like him."

"Yes, but-"

"You care about me, I understand. But living in this town has been hell on earth for you, I know. I saw it every day- You come home, and you just go upstairs to do your homework immediately and then you help around the house. You never go out to talk, to play, or to just be with people. You were simply dead inside. When you do go out, it's because of school or those early morning jogs. Yes," she said quickly before Ziri could interrupt with surprise, "I'm awake then as well, which I think you inherited from me. Just… Stay away. You have this number to call; I have yours."

A pause. "Love you."

"Love you too, mom."

_Click. _

And so, there was silence.

He look up at the sky, as the breezes blew softly around him. His two Pokemon looked at Ziri with concern at these weird mood changes: First too high to care about anything- Then it changed to sorrow, and then to active fear, and now this peacefulness that was contagious, but they couldn't help but look up at him. He looked down and smiled.

"There's always a new day," he said, more to himself than anyone else, but they heard him and quickly agreed. "Sorry guys," he said, "I need you to return to your Pokeballs… I gotta run fast." He held them out, and so they willfully returned.

He readied himself- When Ziri ran at max speed, nothing save divine intervention was going to stop him. Any thing on any one in the way included.

He was gone so fast that a bug catcher who was on the route at that moment saw nothing but an indistinct human-shaped sandy brown (His hair), white with some red spots (His shirt and the three lateral strips on each sleeve), and light blue (His cargo pants) blur before a blast of wind in its wake blew his hat off a few feet away.

* * *

Hannah was jubilant- The Ledyba that had popped out of the bushes had been captured, and now, after a brief rest, she stepped out her door. The Violet City contest was in a week; she had to make it there on time after missing the Cherrygrove one thanks to _him. _She thought it was strange, the same boy who had made a ruckus in Cherrygrove twice the same day-

That's when an oddly familiar blur blasted right by her, and she was left shaking in realizing exactly how close collision had been. At the very least, no dust got on her new blue-and-red blouse (A skimpy one, obviously to complement her… _above average _bust).And the blast of wind as it passed by, as well. She snapped her neck in the direction of where it was headed to see…

* * *

The girl happily walked out of the Pokemon Center with all her Pokemon restored, as well as having been restored herself, having eaten her first meal in many, many hours.

It was now ten o'clock in the morning.

As she turned to the center of town, with the intention of getting directions, she unwittingly put herself into Zirienji Axlhedron's path. And she did see him, as a suddenly approaching blur that (From the front) seemed to be tinted with a steely gray…

* * *

Ziri already had one close call already with the girl on the doorstep- Now there was someone dead in his path a second later, yet another girl. Groaning at the girl trouble he was having today, he performed a dive jump, as in tilting himself forward while in the process flicking his feet towards the girl.

_Airborne. _

He bounded upwards, and used a- Wait, what the heck? A lizard? Oh well. Using its head, Ziri shoved up, imbuing his jump with just enough angular momentum…

To land with nothing but a soft thump, ten feet away from where he had made the jump, and fifteen from where he had started the jump and therefore a perfect forward flip to land on his feet. Hands out for balance, he looked behind him.

* * *

Breathtakingly, the very same boy who had caught her with one hand and pushed her up with it did it again- Traveling at that ridiculous velocity, he'd calculated and performed a jump that could have shamed a gymnast. The landing… Even _that _was perfect, complete with the hands out!

So wanting to get a look at him close up and personal, she missed the step and fell on her knee. The enviormental klutz struck again.

"Oww," she grumbled as she furiously rubbed it; then, picking herself up and ignoring the fact that her white sandal two-and-a-half-inch heels were on, she ran forward.

* * *

Alessandra Cesarini was not too shocked by anything, but what had happened now took the cake in a million different ways.

She only snapped out of it, when Blaze, her Charmander went into shock as well and fell from her shoulder onto Light, on of her Eevees.

That's when the howling, thrashing, and yelps concerning burned fur began to fly.

Then she remembered. The person… He had used her Charmander as a footstool! Before she could whirl around in anger, the voice behind her spoke first.

"Uh, are you okay?"

Worst question for this kind of situation _ever. _Then again, Ziri supposed, this kind of situation was rare, so there was no way to know it _was _the worst kind of response. Whipping out his Pokedex, he quietly examined Charmander's data before he put it away. Some fire-breathing lizard? Puh-leeze.

The girl whirled around, flames blazing in her brown eyes. "As a matter of fact, no," she declared. "You've almost killed my Charmander, you've caused a massive amount of chaos and pain to my Pokemon, and I think I'll challenge and then I'll beat you. Two-on-two."

The city, which had only resumed talking with the fall of the Charmander, now went silent. Again.

Ziri held up his hands in self-defense. "It was an accident, geez-"

"Accident!" she screeched.

Ziri winced. "You're even worse than a Misdreavus at that kind of thing."

Hannah, who had finally caught up to the crowd, heard that remark and screech, and she could agree more. She was a victim of Misdreavus hair-biting antics once, and she was discriminate against them ever since; call it posttraumatic stress disorder.

"So," Ziri began, though he knew that this girl in front of him wanted to murder him, "What's your name?"

Strangely enough, she cooled down slightly. "Alessandra Cesarini, otherwise known as-"

"Alex?"

Stunned, she stared at him. How did he…?

"Meowth got your tongue? It was obvious with a name like that" he said, rolling his eyes. "Well, anyways, mine is Zirienji Axlhedron… But, just like you, call me Ziri."

The city of Cherrygrove, Hannah, and Alex now had a name to call this strange boy by.

_Ziri. _

"Now," he said, business-like, "You mentioned a battle?" he wasn't too concerned, beyond the fact she had more Pokemon than him. She was freakin' ten or something, he had no idea. Younger than him anyway.

"Oh yeah… Blaze, you're up!" she shouted. Immediately, the Charmander scampered forward.

Ziri raised his eyebrows. "Aren't you the one who I used as a foot stool… By accident?" he quickly added, when he noticed the angry look on its face. Sighing, he took a Pokeball off of his belt.

"Aipom, let's go!" he shouted. The pink simian popped out with a smile, saw the Charmander, and immediately ran behind Ziri.

Her owner groaned. "C'mon, can't you just handle one?"

She shook her head.

Bribery time. "I'll give you an Oran Berry," he said, taking it out of his backpack.

Immediately she took the bait and nodded. "Actually," he said thoughtfully, and took out a case from his backpack with a long string attached to it, and placed the berry in it, tying the string around her neck in the process. "There," he said, "Now you can eat it if you get into a sticky spot. C'mon, get out there!"

And so Aipom vs. Charmander. But then, Hannah yelled "Wait!"

The two opponents as well as the crowd all looked at her curiously. Feeling her cheeks turn red, she said quickly, "Don't we need a referee?"

Ziri shrugged, meeting her sapphire eyes with his own steel gray ones. "Hell if I care, but if you bother so much then _you _be it."

The crowd was stunned, just like the ones on the center of this debate. "Wh-what!" she stuttered, partly because of this weird reversal and partly from the distraction that he was, in a few words, cute to the extreme. "I'm not trained-"

"Then you raised the issue because…?" he asked through a raised eyebrow, then sighed. "Look, just tell us when to begin and tell us when someone faints and crap. That simple?"

First he forced it on her, then he gave her a way out. She blinked in bewilderment, but she nodded. "Um, begin!"

"Blaze, use-"

"Fake Out!" Ziri yelled. The rapid charge found its mark- The glancing blow was light, but it caused the Charmander to stagger backwards from the force of it, since Charmanders are much lighter than Machokes. Also present was the flinching, in expectancy of a greater hit than that.

"Blaze, snap out of it! Scratch!" Alex shouted, irked at not drawing first blood.

As Blaze run forward, claw extended…

"Aipom, Doubleslap!"

Whirling around, she waved her tail rapidly to the point where the fire-breathing lizard's skull was being rapidly beaten back and forth with the hand, causing it to yowl in pain and drop the claw. "Awesome work! Now retreat!" came the owner of her master, and she danced back, the traditional smile of Aipoms on her face.

"You're not getting away!" Alex seethed. "Blaze, Ember!"

Ziri's eyes widened. "Aipom, Tail Whip!" he shouted, knowing full well that there was no way for Aipom to attack right now at long range; only suppression could counter such. Thankfully he was successful. The flames died out in the Charmander's throat before they were spat out, earning Ziri a dirty look from his opponent.

"Fine, we'll play that way! Blaze, Growl!"

Blaze instantly opened her mouth, but this time it was a sweet "Chaaaarrrr," drawn out to make Aipom jerk in surprise.

"We can do this!" Alex yelled. "Scratch!"

"You too, Aipom!"

Immediately meeting in the middle of the circle of spectators, they took separate swipes at each other, with Aipom missing but Blaze landing a shallow set of cuts in her skin. "Try a Tail-" Ziri began, only to be cut off by a shout of "Ember!"

"Aipom!" he yelled in panic as the Long Tail Pokemon took the full brunt of the attack staggered backwards.

"Alright, Blaze! Another Ember!"

Immediately noticing the tail was now between his Aipom's legs, he yelled his high hopes to the heavens. "Doubleslap through the legs!"

The fireballs were instantly snuffed by the rapid movements, which, although it caused some damage to Aipom, was much less serious than, say if it taken another full barrage of Ember. Alex's eyes widened at this; she yelled "Use Scratch!"

The Charmander charged forward; dead into Ziri's trap.

"Trip it!" he yelled.

Aipom quickly scooted to the side, but not without sticking out her tail, which caught onto the rising foot of the oncoming opponent. With a yowl of "Charrrrr!" it feel flat on its face.

"Finish it!" Ziri shouted. The earlier exchange of scratches had given him the idea. "Uhhh… Fury Swipes!"

It worked. Immediately, Aipom jumped at the fallen form of its opponent and scratched it rapidly into submission as it yelped and covered its head.

"Use your tail to knock it away!" Alex yelled desperately, relying on the flames as a last resort. However…

"Use your own tail to hold it back!" Ziri countered confidently.

Ziri took the advantage; the prehensile tail combined with the three-handed finger stopped the burning tail from getting any closer, while Aipom mercilessly whaled on Blaze. It wasn't long before it gave a final groan and fainted.

"Aipom, stop!" Ziri shouted.

Immediately the simian Pokemon jumped back, fatigued but ready to attack if needed.

Hannah nervously raised her hand. "Um, Charmander is… unable to battle, the winner is Aipom…"

"Yes!" Ziri yelled, pumping his fist into the air while cradling his Pokemon in the other arm (Who had jumped in her arms).

Alex, however, was not yet finished as she returned her defeated Charmander into its Pokeball. "I still have another Pokemon to go," she said resolutely. "Light, I need you!"

Immediately the normally colored Eevee trotted up. The crowed ohhhed and ahhhed in appreciation of the rare Pokemon, and waited for Ziri's response.

"I'm keeping Aipom in," he announced.

Silence. "But it's already hurt!" Alex protested. Ziri however, rolled his eyes.

"Not anymore." And that was true, for Aipom was busy gorging herself on the Oran Berry.

"Oh."

"Uh," Hannah began, "Aipom vs. Light the Eevee… Begin!"

Alex took to the offensive. "Light, Swift!" she shouted.

The Eevee opened its mouth to send forth a multitude of stars that homed in upon Aipom even as it tired to scamper away. Gritting his teeth, Ziri yelled "Tail Whip!"

As she rolled to her feet Aipom immediately waved the tail, causing the Eevee to instantly lose focus for a second. Immediately, Ziri hollered "Double Slap!"

As Aipom bounded forward, Alex yelled "Use Quick Attack!" Suddenly, the previously enraptured Eevee turned into a brown blur as it crashed into her opponent in the midriff.

"AiAiAi!" came the weak cry as she picked herself up, with difficulty. "Let it come to you!" Ziri yelled, beginning to feel desperate.

"I don't think so! Swift!" Alex yelled. Before Light could perform it, however, an ordered Tail Whip distracted it from spitting out the first stars. "Now!" Ziri shouted, run towards it, but keep up the Tail Whip!"

Now her Pokemon's head was churning as it tried to keep up with the gyrations of the tail as the owner came ever closer. "No, Light!" she cried, yet there was no distracting a young Pokemon now, when it was on the receiving end of a Tail Whip.

"Now! Doubleslap!"

The Eevee yelped as its face was battered by the hand again and again and again- But then its fascination with the tail was broken. Quickly Alex yelled "Quick Attack!"

Again the fox became a blur as it crashed into its foe. Tumbling across the ground, Aipom got up woozily, its eyesight out of focus. "Alright, let's do this!" Alex shouted, encouraged. "Swif-"

"Return!"

Before she could complete the command, Ziri had taken Aipom's Pokeball and returned it. "You did awesome," he murmured, before he replaced it on belt.

"What, giving up?" Alex challenged. He only looked at her before taking the second Pokeball off his belt.

"Meet my star player," Ziri said, before he yelled, throwing the ball high, as Hannah suddenly knew what was coming next, "Cyndaquil, let it rip!"

The Fire Mouse Pokemon, now a popular one around Cherrygrove, received a standing ovation to which his trainer and himself accepted proudly. "Alright! Flame on!" Ziri ordered. Immediately, the red spots on its back blasted upwards in flame, adding to the applause.

With the appearance of the Pokemon that had given her the drive to capture her second Pokemon, Hannah wasn't so nervous anymore standing as temporary referee. "Cyndaquil vs. Light the Eevee! Begin!"

Alex, having taken out her Pokedex to examine what species this was, put it back. She had no clue what Cyndaquils could do, but she didn't want to find out- A quick match was what she wanted.

The 10:45 A.M. sun began to increase the heat.

"Swift!" Alex yelled.

"Ember!" Ziri countered. The fireballs and stars collided to produce a smoky explosion, covering the battlefield. As onlookers gasped, he took the temporary smokescreen into stride, and quickly whispered to Cyndaquil, "Find them and use Tackle through the smoke!" Nodding, it scampered off.

On the other side, Alex with busy scanning the smoke with her Eevee when the Cyndaquil blasted through. She began to say "Use Swi-" when at top speed the Fire Mouse crashed into the fox. "Light!" she cried, as the smoke cleared, giving Ziri a good look at the battlefield.

"You rock, Cyndaquil! Now give it an Ember!" he hollered. His Pokemon enthusiastically complied, firing the small bolts of flame at the Evolution Pokemon. It moaned in pain as its fur started to smoke after getting hit.

"Quick Attack!" Alex shouted, trying to turn the momentum, but it was too late.

"Your own medicine down your own throat!" Ziri snickered. "Quick Attack!"

The girl's eyes widened. "No-"

She didn't get to finish. Although Light had managed to put in the Quick Attack, she had stopped at seeing her foe disappear, only to slam her from behind where she tumbled in front of Ziri. "Finish it! Ember!" the boy in question yelled.

The flames struck, and the Eevee made one final feeble attempt at getting up before it gave up, falling unconscious.

Immediately, Hannah called "Light the Eevee is unable to battle, the victory goes to Cyndaquil and Ziri Axlhedron!" to which the crowd cheered at seeing the hard fought battle.

"You were awesome, buddy," Ziri said happily, as Aipom came out to congratulate her fellow Pokemon. "Here, have a snack." Fishing out a Pokeblock from the case, he popped it out and gave it to the Fire Mouse, which squealed happily as it licked it off his hand. Immediately, Ziri leaned back, and dead on cue the flames flared up yet again.

Alex watched him as she kneeled over the fallen form of her Eevee while her other Eevee chirped in concern for its fellow. As she returned her, she stood up to talk to him about the Pokeblocks he had- But then he was gone.

If only to talk to the _volunteer _referee. "Thanks," he said, "for stepping in."

Hannah only nodded, with a slight tinge of red to her cheeks. "W-well, I just had to open my mouth and there I was…" she nervously laughed, knowing full well who she was talking to while Ziri didn't.

Now he did. He recognized her from the odd moment in the Pokemon Center, but now, as he caught onto the sight of her hair, it all snapped into place. "Hey, you gave me the bandage!" he exclaimed.

She did a double take, "What-? Oh yeah," she said, remembering that incident. "But why don't you have the scars from the bite?" came the question, in instant reference to the blood from the penetration wounds.

He shrugged. "Don't know, but you saved my life."

The casual nature of the statement threw her off. "What-?"

That's when Alex impatiently tapped his shoulder. "Good battle," she said pointedly, and shook his hand.

"Sorry about your Pokemon," Ziri began, but he never finished- Aipom was making an angry ruckus on his left shoulder while Cyndaquil clung onto his head on his left. "What's wrong?"

Hannah caught sight of the Aipom, which was giving her the evil eye in addition the shaking fists, and it made her pale. "Um…"

Ziri turned. "Yeah?"

"Your Aipom looks familiar," she said weakly.

Then it hit him.

His mouth dropped. "_That's_ why she was so angry!"

* * *

**Yay! Someone else's OC meets the gang! **

**This one was long, but it was worth it. Don't forget to review!**


	5. If only it wasn't so true

**After the last juggernaut of a chapter, I shortened this one; but it's still sixteen pages long in Microsoft Word.**

**Legendary Fairy: Sorry about the loss, but I wanted to give the sense that Ziri's a standout- Well, Alex is too, but that'll come later...**

**Startix- Master of the NoLess: I will rock on as ordered ;D**

**K. Fang: Mind the new nickname? I can't spell whatever the first thing was... You're getting the spotlight next!**

**Happy reading, everybody!  
**

* * *

Everyone was at the Pokemon Center; Ziri, Hannah, Alex and a crowd of onlookers who were trying and failing to look like they were innocently minding their own business, if that included checking their shoes for dirt every five seconds.

"So, you were the one who let me capture Aipom," Ziri said thoughtfully as they sat around a table; he was sitting with his head on the table, apparently out of nervousness since his eyes were rapidly flicking. "Someone went on a freakin' _rampage, _I figured already, but I didn't expect you to be… well, you.

"Well, yeah, I'm the one," she said, sort of guiltily. Alex's and Ziri's Pokemon were inside the care rooms, from the clash that they were in. Dark, however, was there with them, since it had never been on the receiving end of any attacks. Hannah's two were outside there Pokeballs, where Flora was eyeing Ziri rather nervously- Which he noticed.

"Why is your Chikorita staring at me?" he asked, his eyes briefly flashing at her general direction. Hannah shrugged, but endeavored to guess.

"I guess that your Cyndaquil… Was it from the same batch that I got my Chikorita from?"

Ziri raised an eyebrow. "You were the one who left one of the gaps in the table open two days ago?"

She nodded, guiltily again. "And… That guy from yesterday…"

"The one with the Totodile?"

Alex perked up. "Totodile? I saw a trainer with a Totodile this morning- Wait, why are you guys all staring at me?"

Ziri had lifted his head off the table to look at her, while Hannah had snapped her neck so fast the all three were surprised that she hadn't broken it. "That Totodile," Ziri said, and though his tone was calm the two girls there noticed that his fists were clenching and unclenching, "almost killed me."

Alex was flabbergasted. "How? I didn't know that Totodiles bit down that hard… And where's the scar?"

Ziri and Hannah shared a glance between them before the boy answered. "Well, it kind of healed overnight…"

Most or all of the people there in the Pokemon Center besides the three at the table had seen the debacle concerning the Totodile lately, and now turned to listen better. "And," Ziri continued, "It gave me this weird infection that spread… Like, this weird yellow stuff through my left arm-"

Hannah jumped out of her chair. "You mean you caught Reichtfeld's disease!?" she exclaimed.

All the people there looked at her strangely.

"Oh," she said, sinking deep into her chair.

"What about that disease? Of course I'd be interested in it, since if you're correct I caught it. So, what is it?"

Hannah shook her head, bewildered. "It doesn't usually strike someone so young… It's a disease connected to brain activity, so that if the body has an open wound and a pathogen enters through the wound, there's a small chance the immune system might go overboard and start producing a kind of yellowish pus. Did you," she asked, "Feel like you seemed to be thinking better a while after you got bitten?"

Ziri blinked. "How the hell did you know that?"

"Then it has to be Reichtfeld's disease," she murmured. "It causes high-performance brains, mostly the cerebral cortex, the center for the subconscious of the brain, to kick the immune system into a way too high gear as well as temporarily benefiting the brain ("Before it kills me" Ziri muttered)… Did the yellow stuff start spreading towards your lungs?"

"The last thing I remembered, yeah, before I passed out. I woke up at midnight with no bite marks and everything about me never being better."

Silence as Hannah pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Then you must have a seriously special mind to catch it this young- And heal so fast, which must be from an outside source…"

"I'm top of my class at school," Ziri offered.

"Top five."

The two raised eyebrows at each other before simultaneously saying "Nerd." They couldn't help but crack grins at each other, though each averted their eyes, Ziri being shy around girls and especially this one, who could be best called a brainy beauty, and Hannah realizing that he was smart, handsome, and ridiculously athletic- A golden triangle.

If he wasn't so damned much of a smart aleck and so _shy_!

At that moment, the light shined Alex's and Ziri's names, and both quicklystood up to receive their Pokemon, Alex adding a muttered comment about being ignored totally in that conversation to which Ziri couldn't help but crack "Did we get too intelligent for you, my dear?" to which Alex kicked him on the shin.

Hannah sighed; the smart aleck part of her classification was most certainly true. And so was the second one, the shyness part. She was not stupid; she saw easily that he was uncomfortable in his own skin sometimes, and the way that he carried along when he dealt with Pokemon, she guessed that he was better at being around Pokemon.

Good with Pokemon, terrible with people. A strange hybrid, and when concerning her, it was a chilling one. However, these thoughts were dashed when Ziri returned, laughing from the overenthusiastic response that his Pokemon were giving him- Until his Aipom saw her Chikorita, and started angrily going "AiAiAi!" and waving arms and tail in anger. His Cyndaquil, however, looked mildly surprised to see the Chikorita and padded over.

"Cute," Ziri grumbled, as Alex's Pokemon, at least the ones that had gotten on his bad side- Shot both him and his Pokemon death glares.

At that moment Flora flattened his Cyndaquil in what was supposed to be a hug, but was really a botched lie-on (No forearms, duh), while the Fire Mouse attempted to avoid being smothered. "No you don't," Hannah said, as she gingerly picked up her Chikorita, who seemed to want to spend more time with her labmate- Until, of course, Ziri picked him up, and the leaf on her head drooped.

Her owner sighed. Life was going to be difficult.

* * *

As the three walked out, Alex said in barbed sarcasm, "I hope this isn't the _second _time I go to the Pokemon Center today, thanks to you."

Ziri looked at her with raised eyebrows, his Pokemon stored in his Pokeball. "This was your second time today, so you just walked out? Damn, you're unlucky."

"If only because of you," Alex said pointedly. "So, where's the next gym and contest at?"

Hannah perked up. "You do contests?"

"Well, yeah," she said loftily. "And I do badges as well."

"_Ami tambien_," Ziri said offhandedly, "but only to the last part- I don't care about beauty and stuff like that much."

Hannah couldn't help but reply hotly "Everything's in style! How can you say that!?"

"Because I don't care about the means, I only care about the ends."

"You're lacking something in life, you know."

"You're preaching to me because…?"

"P-preaching!? I'm going to seriously hurt you one day-"

He yawned as they walked northwards. "Good luck with that."

Hannah's response was to ball her right fist and throw a punch at the side of his head.

It would have been a very nasty concussion, but by the time her fist of wrath was halfway to his head, he was no longer there. Instead, he had simply accelerated his step at that moment to be a foot farther forward than where he should have been.

And at that moment, the environmental klutz struck again. A rock, conveniently near the toe of her foot, caught on, and as she stumbled forward, dealing with the momentum she was holding very badly she tripped, crying out "Ahh-!".

The ground rushed up to meet her.

And then a hand grabbed her neck and as she stumbled forward, the hand pushed her back up.

Still slightly stunned at this near miss, she looked up, to see Ziri carefully withdrawing his hand while looking back at her with a curious expression on her face. Then he turned, and the rescued one realized, with a shock, that he had never stopped walking, even with catching her.

Alex was staring at her, openmouthed. "Did he… Did he just do that one-handed?"

Hannah groaned as she began walking again. "That's actually the second time…"

Alex followed, her jaw dropping even lower. "The _second _time?"

* * *

He knew that they would have to pass by Mr. Pokemon's house eventually, so, while he was ahead he broke into a run, intentionally making an easy trail to follow. So when he reached the house thirty minutes later, he was barely exhausted, but the sweat was beginning to get to him.

He knocked. "Hello!" he called.

The door promptly opened. "Ziri!" Mr. Pokemon said in surprise. "I didn't know you would be back a day later…"

"Minus three hours," the boy corrected him.

Mr. Pokemon raised an eyebrow. "Exactly?"

Ziri checked his Pokegear. "More or less by thirty minutes. Heck, can I come in? I've got some friends, but they're biting the dust right now, and I need to get out of the sun."

Eleven-thirty.

His senior stepped out of the way, letting the teen bound in and immediately take a look around. "Did the professor leave?" he asked, craning his neck to look at everything.

"Gone," Mr. Pokemon said simply. "Left a few minutes after you did, turned south, then I _think _he got a Pokemon to take him somewhere…"

"Think?"

"Well, I saw something rise from Cherrygrove out the window, but I couldn't see, of course who was on it or what it was. But no airplane can rise that fast perfectly upwards from the ground, and no blimp could have gone that fast. So I'd say it was a Pokemon."

"Nice explanation." Then he sniffed the air. "You were cooking lunch?"

"Am cooking," Mr. Pokemon corrected. "I just started."

"Will it take thirty minutes?"

"Yes… Why? You're hungry yet you have patience?"

"Nope. I just have two very annoyed friends coming."

* * *

True to his word, more or less thirty minutes later, his two travel companions came along, with steamed expressions on their faces.

"ZIRI!" both of them yelled when they was him lounging in the shade in the trees right by the house. Unlike him, who looked like the king of the world with the smug look like that as he flashed open one eye at them from the ground, they were both sweaty, exhausted, and in Hannah's case, slightly bruised.

Ziri noticed. "What'll you do if I'm not there to catch you?" he sighed mockingly.

Her only response this time was not charge at him, knowing more than likely she'd trip on something (Even though the ground was packed hard with no debris) and then he'd save her again- That would defeat the purpose. Instead, she picked up a rock she had thought to pick up along the way for that purpose, and chucked it as hard she could at his head.

Predictably it missed. He simply sat up from his position on the ground, where the rock bounced harmlessly away, and said "Nice throw. Mind trying to make that more beautiful next time? I mean, throwing rocks gets people ugly, but the way you talk you, it sounds like everything you do has to pretty- Well, add accuracy to the list, please."

She shrieked in rage. How the hell did he know how to get on her nerves so easily?

That's when he jumped to his feet and began backing away, with a terrified look in his eye.

Confused, Hannah looked around, until she spotted Alex doing… _Something _with her skirt. As in, taking it off, while sweetly saying "It's rather hot, you know…"

Ziri at that point looked like a Girafarig in the headlights.

He then proceeded to turn his back to them, walk to the tree, grab it with both hands, and smash his head against it.

The tree visibly buckled from the impact, but held firm.

The two girls watched, openmouthed, as he spun around, with a hazy look in his eyes and a dark red blotch on his forehead, and said in a just as hazy voice, "That hurt."

Then he fell forward onto the ground.

The two remaining conscious people there immediately rushed to him and turned him over, where they found the blood trickling down his face from the impact- Yes, she confirmed to a now-hysterical Alex, it was blood- and closed eyes. And, when Hannah very shakily felt his pulse, she almost hugged his unconscious form in relief that he hadn't committed suicide with the assistance of the tree. At least that was for sure.

Mr. Pokemon looked outside, thinking of calling "Boy, lunch is done," when he saw the two girls, one looking to be swooning, and one cradling his head on her lap, and said instead:

"I didn't know that his good looks got him that far…"

Both girls snapped their heads up and instantly turned red, jumping back from him (His head fell off Hannah's lap).

"_What!?_"

That woke Ziri up. Yawning, he said in a sleepy voice, "Man, both of you your screaming combined is even worse than my mother."

He caught sight of the looks everyone was giving him; Alex looked slightly tearful but now enraged, Hannah was looking at him in a way that could have scared an angry Ursaring away, and Mr. Pokemon was having a secretive smile and talking (In a quiet voice) about his fan club.

The last part got him. _Oh_.

He knew Hannah's leg was rushing towards him at the shoulder, but he didn't dodge it- For their sake.

_Whap_.

"Oww!!" Ziri whined. He said, "What was that for?" instead of the smart-aleck comment, going along the lines of "I wake up after someone undressed in front of me and now you blame _me _for being perverted?"

Alex then kicked him on the base of his neck, where he dropped like a stone. And he still hadn't seen the running shorts underneath her skirt.

Hannah raised an eyebrow at those. "You actually had me scared there for a second."

Alex giggled innocently. "Really?"

"Undressing in front of a boy? That's the scariest thing a girl can do in the presence of another girl. It should only be in private, but…"

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. When they finished, Mr. Pokemon, looking quite amused, immediately said "If you want to keep the joke, I suggest you put that skirt back on, before our friend wakes up." With that, he walked back into the house.

While Alex did that, Ziri woke up immediately.

"Owww… Who knocked me out this time?" Alex had kicked him without making a sound- That's why he did not hear it coming.

Hannah decided to play her own mind game with him. "You wanted to peek, don't you" she said in that same sweet voice that preceded the pseudo-undressing. As she did that, she moved her chest forward.

Ziri shifted his head, and suddenly realized that her… _Prodigious _chest was getting a bit to close for comfort. With a yelp, he rolled away, screaming "Are you crazy!? Did Alex get in your head and replace her brain with yours!?"

Alex, who was walking over, the skirt covering her running shorts, burst out laughing at this, while Hannah, who had turned slightly pink from her… _Demonstration _only said "You're more innocent than any other fifteen year-old that I know," and walked backed to the house, making sure to sway her hips as she turned her back to him.

Ziri's head sank into the ground. "What the _hell _have I gotten myself into?" he mumbled.

Alex's only response was to stick her tongue out at him and walk back in with the others; Ziri finally picked himself up and followed them grudgingly.

The lunch was silent, save for the sounds of Alex wolfing down her soup, Hannah daintily using the spoon, while Ziri drank only half of it and left it there while shooting glares at them- Which they pointedly ignored.

Sighing, he set the bowl on the floor, and before anyone could speak through their raised eyebrows he let Cyndaquil and Aipom loose from the Pokeballs, the latter of which chattered angrily at Hannah before looking at their owner. "Drink up," he told them, and when they looked worriedly at him, he only laughed. "I eat that much every day, for lunch, cause everything's for dinner," he chided them. "Now, drink, or I'll eat everything for dinner and I'll have to listen to your stomachs growl all through the night."

They looked at him, still in concern before obliging.

Neither of the girls had ever seen anything like that. "Are you telling the truth?" Alex asked, as her own Pokemon wolfed down their food like their trainer. "I thought they had food-"

The anger that had disappeared this morning suddenly came back like a flash flood.

"They ate it while you guys were still coming here, idiot. If you had been slightly faster, then you wouldn't have had to screw around with facts like the idiot you're acting as. Or are you one?"

Alex got an enraged look on her face again. "Shut-!"

"Up? Since when were you god and therefore had the ability to close my mouth whenever you ordered it to be closed? So, shut up."

Silence, as Alex glared at him. "And besides," he continued, "They haven't eaten since I found them in the wild and the lab, unless you count the Oran Berry I handed to Aipom and the Pokeblock to Cyndaquil. So, they're starving and any person with common sense would feed them extra."

He stopped only to glare at Hannah, who quickly said "I fed mine while I was at my house in Cherrygrove! You can't-"

"Did _you _personally give them any?"

Mr. Pokemon broke the standoff. "Ziri," he began, "You're traveling with them. Why do you find it within reason to anger them?"

"Because they mostly fit into what I see humanity as. But, since you asked, I'll shut up."

The last comment made all three feel a chill.

"_Because they fit into what I see humanity as."_

He had said it with such awful coldness that there was no question that whatever his view was, it was as cold as the tone of his voice.

The rest of lunch passed by, while both Aipom and Cyndaquil jumped into his arms for a quick snooze. Contentedly cooing, they snugly fit into his arms and promptly fell asleep, like the owner, who smiled as he slept with his companions.

It took awhile before anybody at the table spoke at all, and that was only when Alex said a quick "Thanks for everything" and proceeded to collect everyone. Ziri remained asleep.

When the two- Not three- left the house, it was Alex who asked "By the way, you never told us your name. What was it again?"

Hannah blanched. "Oh, it's Hannah. Hannah Rangzeski. I know you're Alex, so…"

Her counterpart shrugged. "So we've made the introductions. Um, where are we going next?"

Hannah stared at her. "You don't know that we're going to Violet City?"

Alex blushed. "No, its just that I'm new to Johto…"

"Oh. Well, I'm not much better... If we walk north, we'll get there, I just know that. Follow the road north and then to wherever next, and we'll be fine."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Ziri woke up.

Looking around, he saw Mr. Pokemon busy scribbling down notes, when he saw him stir. "Ah, good, you've finally woken up. They've… Hmmm… ditched you, as you can see."

He looked around, and the surroundings confirmed the statement. "I'm going to kill them," Ziri seethed as he stood up, putting down his Pokemon.

Then he suddenly knew _exactly _why they had done so, and his tone changed. "Uh, never mind. I think I know why…"

"About time you did," Mr. Pokemon said, and looked up from his work. "I don't know what you think of our species, but you had no right to take out your anger on them."

The sternness of the tone was bad enough, but what made it even worse was the truth in it. He could do nothing but hang his head and listen, as the man continued.

"I know that you feel anger at your fellow humans for isolating you and making your life a nightmare- Yes, your Pokegear rang while you were asleep. Apparently, it was your mother checking up on you. I mentioned what you said, and she gave me a full explaination of what happened at New Bark Town today."

The boy wanted to die out of shame of everything that had happened in the last half hour.

"But," Mr. Pokemon added, "I can sympathize with you. I love Pokemon, and I feel angry that our species can't compare with them for their purity and innocence that they have. But remember- In purity lies weakness, the ability to be corrupted. Yet in their weakness there is there strength, the ability to carry on. You seem to have a heart of a human, pragmatic and rational, fused with the heart of a Pokemon, pure and prone to massive outflow of emotion. I can't tell what you are, but it's the only diagnosis I have."

Silence. Then, Ziri stood up, and quickly returned Aipom and Cyndaquil to both their Pokeballs.

"Where are you going?"

"To find them. And apologize."

"Good."

"Thanks for every word and everything else. You soup was delicious, but I guess I had to part with it."

He walked outside the door, shut it, then looked up the route.

"Time to run."

He bent low on the ground, and then he became a barely distinct blur.

* * *

At five minutes later Alex and Hannah, walking together into a place where the ground became gravelly and the road widened, saw a certain boy with dark shorts, a gray shirt, and a cap suspiciously placed over his face. The two instantly recognized him; Hannah for what happened yesterday, Alex for what happened this morning. Before any introduction, Alex said loudly, "Hey! You're from this morning!"

He looked up, and they caught the stare of obsidian eyes before a sneer formed on his face. "Oh, you're the pathetic on from this morning, eh? Interesting meeting you here. And who's this filthy swine?" he asked derisively, nodding at Hannah.

A flush formed across her cheeks. "Wh-what? Who're you calling a filthy swine? You almost killed someone yesterday, and you can say that?!" she practically yelled, her voice echoing.

As Ziri sped through the route, he heard a yell, which he recognized as the other girl's voice. The one with the body and the same age as him… But he still didn't even know her name.

Groaning and knowing that the wind would snatch the sound away before her ears could catch them, he sped on. Those two were the closest thing he had to human companions besides his mother, and he had known them for less than twelve hours. Pathetic, he concluded, but better than nothing.

* * *

"Killed someone?" the boy asked, eyebrows raised. I didn't know his health was so pathetic when my Totodile bit him-"

"It wasn't his health, you fool," Hannah snapped, "It was some kind of disease your Totodile gave him."

"He was a fool to have tried to take care of my Totodile," he said, brushing it off. "I didn't order it to bite him. And-" his eyes narrowed. "You're the one who took the Chikorita…"

Hannah blinked. How did he-?

That's when the boy saw a certain steel gray-tinted blur behind them rapidly approaching him, and tried taking a step back- Too late.

* * *

Between their shoulders Ziri saw _him_. And that gave him the last boost of strength to (As he guiltily noted) perform the second dive jump of the day and use Blaze as a footstool once again, but he also used the shoulder of the girl that he still didn't know the name of.

The same angular momentum that carried him up and over the boy opposite of him. Who, surprised as he was, fell on his bum as Ziri landed on the gravel and skidded for a few seconds as the pebbles skittered around him. When he stopped, he turned around, looking back.

"What did I miss? Oh, and chick with the awesome body, what was your name again?"

Hannah's cheeks flushed so red that you would have had trouble comparing a cherry to her cheeks and knowing which was what. "It's- It's-"

"Hannah Rangzeski," Alex interjected, if only to stop her counterpart from making a fool of herself in front of everyone.

"Okay, is it illegal to say I'm sorry?"

Both of them looked at each other, then back at Ziri and shook their heads. "Awesome," he said, grinning, until he realized that Blaze the Charmander had fallen off Alex's shoulder, and that her temporary half-smile had changed into a look of indignation. "You used her head _again_?"

"Err, yes?" Ziri said sheepishly. His eye caught Hannah's, and he half shrugged at using her shoulder, yet she couldn't resist the smile. Then he went into what could be disparagingly said as serious mode. "So, mister with the cap," he announced, "Will you kindly return the Totodile that stole from the lab yesterday?"

Hannah and Alex simutaniously blinked. "Stolen?"

"Yes, he took that from the lab yesterday, and used that thing to battle me yesterday… Which he lost with," he added, seeing an opportunity to stick an insult into his face. It worked; the boy's face immediately colored.

"How does your arm feel, after my Totodile chomped on it?" he snapped, mustering a sneer on his face in the process.

Ziri merely raised an eyebrow. "One, the Totodile is not yours. Two, it hurt like hell but it healed overnight, bitch."

He could tell an explosion was in the making. "You know what? I think I'll beat you again."

"No, let me!" Hannah and Alex yelled at the same time.

Instantly, Ziri said "Hell, if both of you want to do it, then I'll just be referee and make it a one on two double battle."

Double battle. The final words, strangely enough, echoed.

Silence, in which Ziri then shrugged. "Oh well, if you guys aren't going to take the offer, then…" He moved his hand suggestively to one of the Pokeballs on his belt-

"We'll take it!" they yelled.

Nodding, the boy said "It won't be much different from crushing one of you."

"Want to bet on that, punk?" Hannah said squarely. "Go, Flora!" she shouted as she threw out her starter's Pokeball. The Chikorita appeared, waving the leaf on her head.

"Go, Dark!" The curiously colored Eevee scampered to the front.

That's when Ziri standing a bit off from where he felt the center of the battlefield between them called, "Hey, hat-man, are you going to send out your Pokemon or not?"

Without a word, he sent out the Totodile that had almost killed him (Which Ziri now flinched at) and a Sentret that bounced on its tail up and down. This made him wonder whether it was being treated kindly or was naturally jolly.

He raised his arms. "This is a double battle, where it's two on two. Nobody can make substitutions. This match is Totodile and Sentret vs. Chikorita and Eevee. Begin!"

"Chikorita, Razor Leaf!" Hannah immediately ordered. The Leaf Pokemon immediately flicked its leaf on the top of its head, sending out a flurry of leaves with a "Chika!" flying at the opponents.

"Sentret, immediately get behind Totodile. Totodile, gun down the leaves with Water Gun."

Immediately complying out of the coldness of tone, the leaves fell to the ground covered in water as the water sprayed them down. However…

"Dark, Sand-Attack!"

The fox quickly kicked up a cloud of sand, blasting it at Totodile. As it wailed in panic as it tried to scrub the sand out of its eyes, Hannah took the chance and shouted "Flora, Poisonpowder!"

Ziri immediately stepped back as the purple dust blasted out from the leaf, floating over to the pair of Pokemon opposite-

"Sentret, Tackle Totodile out of the way and then get out of the way yourself!"

_What!?_

True to the boy's word, the Sentret crashed into the blue mini-alligator, sending it out of the way of the dust- And then following its path as it narrowly missed being poisoned.

_Bastard_, Ziri mouthed. Alex thought so too, for now there was a definite rage in her voice. "Dark, Quick Attack!" As the fox darted forward in a blur…

"Sentret, use Growl! Totodile, use your ears to find that Eevee and use Water Gun, you idiot!"

Ziri wanted to scream at him to shut up, but he couldn't- Not as referee.

The tactic worked. The Eevee stopped dead in his tracks, only to be blasted backwards by the force of the Water Gun. "Eeeee!!" it cried as it bounced along the ground.

"Flora, Razor Leaf, then Poisonpowder!" Hannah called, attempting to even the odds.

It didn't work. The Chikorita got the Razor Leaf in, but it was struck by Growl; in any case, Totodile shot down the leaves yet again with another Water Gun, having now cleared its eyes.

"Dark, Sand-Attack, then Quick Attack!"

"Chikorita, use Vine Whip!"

The sand and gravel flew, catching both Sentret and Totodile unaware this time. As they furiously scrubbed their faces, the Eevee crashed into the Totodile, knocking it backwards, while the two vines coming from Flora's neck slammed around the Sentret before they retracted, and Dark scooted backwards.

The boy yelled "Are you two stupid!? Totodile, spray Sentret with Water Gun!"

The Big Jaw Pokemon whirled around, spraying everywhere around it with water- Including Sentret, whose eyes were now washed out. "Now, Sentret! Close your eyes, and use Tackle by sound!"

Quickly obeying, it turned on its tail-

"Dark, Quick Attack!"

As the Eevee prepared to spring, its paws pushed against the gravel, creating a small crunching noise.

The Sentret then used its tail as a springboard, and blasted forward at Dark, who, taken by surprise, didn't manage to execute the attack nor dodge as it was sent flying. Hannah, realizing that as it stopped, it was making itself a juicy target, shouted "Flora, use Tackle!"

As she ran forward, Ziri heard something chilling.

"Totodile, use Bite."

It ran forward, catching its fellow starter by complete surprise from the side; before Hannah could yell out an order, the jaws clamped onto the Chikorita's midriff, and lifted it into the air.

Ziri flinched. "So, it learned how to use Bite," he said, in a tone as emotionless as possible.

"Of course. I'm going to bet that mangling your arm was practice, even if it healed that fast." The boy said smugly. Then: "Bite down harder." The Totodile obliged, and now Hannah was panicking over how to get out of this tight spot as her Chikorita shrieked in pain.

Alex saved her. "Dark, use Sand-Attack on Sentret, then use Tackle at the Totodile!"

Dark quickly blasted up another cloud of sand at the Sentret, who this time did not have its eyes closed. Then it hurled itself at Totodile, catching it by complete surprise and causing Chikorita to drop- Violently. Quickly, as she nodded thanks to Alex, she yelled "Flora, use Synthesis!"

It was twelve-forty at that moment, just past noon, so the sun was shining very brightly- Perfect Synthesis conditions. Immediately, the wounds on the Leaf Pokemon's body began fading as it glowed. Shaking, it picked itself up as the wounds not quite closed, yet it looked perfectly refreshed strength-wise.

"All that work down the drain," the boy said through gritted teeth. "Fine! Totodile, use Bite! Sentret, use Gro-"

"Razor Leaf!" Hannah shouted. Finally, after two botched attempts, the barrage of razor sharp leaves found their mark at the charging Totodile and the stationary Sentret, knocking them both back. Totodile in particular yelped at that super-effective attack, as angrily their master yelled "Sentret, use Growl, Totodile, use Water Gun!"

Both Pokemon they opposed instantly lost their concentration on hearing the growl; Flora was then struck by the Water Gun, which was absorbed with ease. "Chikorita, use-" Hannah began, but then their opponent had shouted "Go, Sentret! Quick Attack!"

Coming from the side, the speedy blow left the Chikorita sprawled on the ground. "Dark, counter with your own Quick Attack!" Alex cried, where her Eevee complied and sped after the retreating Sentret-"

"Totodile, Bite!"

She had walked into her trap, like she had fallen into Ziri's. The jaws closed around Dark's neck, and as it flailed in panic and pain as a Water Gun from the inside blasted the Eevee all the way out its mouth. Point blank- It could barely stand up now.

"Flora, Poisonpowder, and then Razor Leaf!"

This time, with something else distracting them, their foes where caught unaware by the sinister purple powder that floated through the air, and were then battered by the Razor Leaf flurry.

Poison and then a super-effective blow- Not a good combination. The Totodile succeeded in getting up slowly, and then collapsing, much to his master's displeasure, who was screaming at it angrily and didn't notice his Sentret being battered around with Quick Attacks from Dark; he only noticed via the fact that it landed in a heap on Totodile.

Silence, as Ziri walked over to examine the pile. The two remaining Pokemon were exhausted and hurt, with the Eevee coming off the worst, but as he completed his examination he knew that they were better off than the two in the pile.

"Totodile and Sentret are unable to battle. The winner is Chikorita and Dark!"

The two winners breathed a sigh of relief, before checking up on their respective Pokemon. As the fuming loser returned his Pokemon and turned to walk away, Ziri asked him the question:

"Who _are _you?"

He turned. "My name will be used undoubtedly to track me down, and it's you who is asking, so I'll never tell you. Never. You hear me?"

And he kept walking.

* * *

**This'll be my last update this weekend, so hang on till Monday until I can find a computer. Bah...**

**So Mr. Green-hair has suffered two losses in Ziri's presence! And now, Ziri has a mild phobia of Totodiles...  
**

**Remember to review!**


	6. Fear the hound Dour

**Wow, I actually got the time to finish this behemoth of a chapter. The count is 7000+, so be prepared for lots of reading and strained eyes. YOU CANNOT SUE ME CUZ I WARNED YA! **

**I'm getting an incredible overflow of OCs, and to say the least I'm thinking of stopping the flow since I want to flatten the pace of the story instead of introducing one per chapter. But your ideas are incredible, so keep up the good work- UNTIL I SAY SO!!!**

**Thanks to all who reviewed- And as a footnote, K. Fang, I told ya this chapter was for you~**

**Happy reading to all!**

* * *

"Here," Ziri said, turning around noticing that Dark was whimpering from its wounds and Alex was going into a seizure from panic, "Use this."

He handed over his spare Potion, and she took it with gratitude as she sprayed her Pokemon with the liquid aerosol. Dark whimpered, but at least the majority of its bruises and wounds faded away. Majority being majority and not all as in everything. Looking over, he spotted Flora using Synthesis while her owner stroked her leaf.

Everything was fine then. "Do you want to set up camp here?" Ziri suggested. "Even though it's a few days away at a walking pace we can-"

They all shook their heads, and as Flora was recalled, Dark resumed his customary position at Alex's side.

* * *

Two hours later, as the trio came to a gurgling, clear stream on the side of the road, suddenly a guy with a straw hat, shorts, a sleeveless tee complete with a box of whatever and a hoop net, popped out of the bushes, shouting jubilantly, "Ha! You have to battle as soon as a trainer sees you! Prepared to be bowled over by my incredible Bug Pokemon!"

Ziri groaned and facepalmed himself. "They hell you think you are, buddy? Superman?"

The bug catcher huffed. "My name's Wade, and you've got to accept my battle! Go, Caterpie!"

Ziri took one look at the miniature insect before he fell over, laughing as he went, while his two companions simply rolled their eyes. "Why the hell am I facing a caterpillar?" he managed to choke, with tears in his eyes.

"You won't be laughing when I beat you so get your Pokemon out! Or are you too scared-?"

Ziri jumped up. "Hell to the no. Ready to get eaten for breakfast?"

"Lunch," Hannah chimed irritably.

The bug catcher suddenly gulped as he noticed her, which Ziri saw; this gave him immense pleasure at watching people squirm being with a hot chick. But anyway…

"Cyndaquil, Flame On!"

Forty-five seconds and the Caterpie, a Weedle, and two Caterpies more later, Ziri marched right in front of the crestfallen guy and said "Money?"

He gave it to him- And that's when he saw it was a ridiculously pathetic amount, and he howled skywards at the pathetic-ness compared to what the ever-mysterious thief had given him. Alex only giggled, Hannah looked off elsewhere, and Ziri started chiding a tearful Wade about the virtues of having a lot of money on money; "stacks on deck".

"S O B," Ziri grumbled later. "I got more from beating the crap out of that thief than from that guy."

Hannah shrugged. "Tough, but you never lost a battle yet, have you?"

"Not yet," Ziri said thoughtfully, "But I heard that gyms, contests, and the conferences don't bother with money…"

He was interrupted by the sound of a Pidgey crashing though the grass in front of him.

Immediately, Alex shrieked "A Pidgey!" and barreled forward, shoving Ziri aside.

The offended boy raised an eyebrow. "Are you having a seizure-"

"I'm gonna catch you!" Alex continued loudly. "Go, Blaze! Use Ember!"

Quickly, the Charmander hopped off her shoulder and spat the mini-flames that splashed against the Pidgey's wings and body. Squawking in pain, it then flapped its wings, blasting Blaze with a strong wind that caused the Charmander to stagger.

Ziri's Pokedex immediately reported, "**Gust, a Flying-type move that uses wind to batter a foe in submission. Wings are not needed to perform this move.**"

He shook his head. Odd. Then, he asked Hannah "Don't you have a Pokedex?"

She looked around uneasily. "I think I broke it the first day I got it- Not by tripping on it," she added defensively as he gave her a suggestive look.

At that moment, another Gust both smothered an Ember heading its way- And caused Hannah to stagger backwards as she was caught in its path. And if it happened to be nature's design for a klutz to trip backwards in this kind of situation, there was a six foot ledge right behind her. As she flailed her arms…

Ziri swiped her left hand with his right one, and her sandal heels caught onto the dirt of the ledge while she swayed, her eyes bright with fear.

Sighing, he easily pulled her up, where she fell onto her knees. Squatting besides her at a respectable two feet distance, he asked "Do I really need to put an arm around you every time there's something to be excited about? I mean, you get ticked, you fall over stuff and when someone else gets excited" he indicated the slightly manic Alex "you get caught in the crossfire. Seriously, do I?"

Her response was to slap him in the face and walk away in a huff.

Ziri furiously rubbed his cheek, muttering "Touché" as he went.

"Yes, Blaze!" Alex yelled, pumping her fist. "Now-! Pokeball, go!"

If any words could describe the throw, Ziri thought, the best- And only word, anyway- would be terrible. The throw was more of a lob then anything, and in any case it missed by at least two feet.

Blushing at this incredible failure at catching an unmoving target, she quickly hurled another one.

This one missed by three feet.

Yelling with outrage at her luck, she chucked the final three that she had, and each of them this time missed by at least four feet. One, however, bopped off the bark of a tree and landed at Ziri's left foot. Realizing that he had seen the episode, she fell onto her knees- Not the first person to do that in the last five minutes- and put her head in her arms while the downed Pidgey chirped with laughter at this failure.

Ziri raised his eyebrow. "You're a chuck wagon?"

She looked up suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Rolling his eyes, he continued. "Chuck wagons are my personal names for people who can't catch a Pokemon if they had a year and a million Pokeballs to try."

Silence as Alex realized the definition defined her. Rage immediately crossed her features; "Gimme that Pokeball back!" she raged, charging at him.

His response was to sidestep her, and throw the Pokeball in a direction at least a foot off.

"Ha!" Alex yelled. "You-"

"No I didn't."

It was true; she watched the ball actually curve in mid-air into a direct collision course with the Pidgey. The Pidgey, accustomed by then to all the misses, squawked in surprise to the actual hitting of a Pokeball, dead on its wing, but its cry was cut short when it was sucked within the Pokeball.

Silence as the sphere trembled; and then the ball's button blinked the confirmatory red flash that then faded.

Hannah, who had been watching, now came out with wide eyes. "How did you-?"

Ziri shrugged. "I never tried that before, but if you can make baseballs curve, then why can't you make Pokeballs curve as well? Gives you the surprise factor."

"You mean," Alex broke in, "That was the first time you ever tried it?"

"Well, yeah."

Alex swept past him, her eyes downcast as she collected the Pokeballs that she had missed with. Her Pokemon looked at her, concerned, as she picked every last one of them and placed them sadly in her backpack.

"How can I compare to Ash… and Gary when I don't even know how to catch Pokemon?" she said softly so softly that only Ziri heard, the beginnings of tears in her eyes. "How can I-"

She was interrupted by Ziri placing the Pokeball that he had caught the Pidgey in solidly in her hand. "Here."

Alex stared in shock. "What- Why are you-"

"If you're so bad at catching Pokemon," Ziri interrupted, "then I'll help you. If you can't improve, then I guess I'll have to catch them all for you."

There was no humor or sarcasm in his voice; he was being truly sincere about his desire to help her. Slowly raising her eyes, she met his eyes and nodded, and stood up.

* * *

Someone from afar was watching them, but not another random trainer that was overzealous about attempting to beat whoever down with "My precious Pokemon!" No, this was a Pokemon Trainer that did not pride himself that way- He preferred silence, putting himself and his Pokemon on the line before he'd start boasting.

Currently, he was busy observing this odd trio of characters. One, the boy was now busy leading the way and constantly glancing at the voluptuous one who was also shooting him death glares, while the small one, more ten years old than anything, still had a dazed look in her eye.

He wouldn't go out now; rather, he'd wait before picking the most opportune moments. As in, where they were rested and refreshed, not when they were busy trying to handle off swarms of Pokemon. He was not part of the swarms.

* * *

That night, Alex couldn't sleep, staring at the stars. They seemed to be a reminder of her own uselessness, the way they twinkled. Although her Pokemon had given her some small amount of comfort, she looked at the Pidgey's Pokeball and sighed.

That small about of sympathy that Ziri felt for her- Did she deserve it? Again, she looked at the Pidgey and wondered if it would obey her at all, since she hadn't caught it personally. As her three original Pokemon slept beside her, she got up; she'd have to see herself whether she could get it to follow orders.

A clearing wasn't far from where they slept; it was now or never. Throwing the ball out, she called softly, as to not wake the others, "Go, Pidgey!"

In a burst of white light the miniature bird looked up and caught sight of her and began chirping.

In what was generally known as laughter.

Alex's face flushed; "Are- Are you mocking me!?" she hissed. She got no direct response, but the continuing laughter said it all.

She sighed; this was not going well. She waited for the laughter over the five consecutive misses was spent, before continuing on. "Um, okay," she said slowly, "Can you listen to me…? Even though I didn't catch you?"

The Pidgey only gave her a strange look, but didn't say anything. It just listened.

"I mean," she pressed on, "I might not have good skills catching Pokemon… But I can battle a lot better than that! If I could prove it to you-"

Better done than said, when a growl came from behind her. She whirled around to see a very hungry-looking Houndour that padded out of the bushes, growling softly "Houn… Hound…"

Then, it pounced. But Alex had already shouted, "Pidgey… uh, Tackle!"

The Pidgey only did this very reluctantly, as Alex was forced to dive out of the way. The Dark Pokemon looked around, wondering where its tasty meal had gone, when the Pidgey came smashing into it from the sky. As it staggered, at spat out flames that the Pidgey only narrowly avoided, by making a loop-de-loop up and over.

Alex blinked. "What was-"

The Houndour again sprang at the Pidgey, now seriously annoyed, only for the bird to dive under its jump. The Dark Pokemon howled in rage as it landed, turning-

"Pidgey, use Sand-Attack!"

The blast of sand came into the eyes, immediately causing the dog to whimper in pain as it tired getting the sand out of its eyes. "Again! Tackle!"

This time, the Pidgey only looked at her lazily, chirping "PidPidgey!"

"What?" Alex said, annoyed by this blatant refusal for it to listen to her. Then, she saw that the Dark Pokemon had finally cleared its eyes, and was eyeing the Pidgey with hatred… And greed, since apparently it liked the taste of Pidgey flesh, untenderized and still warm and bloody…

And, let it be known, cooked slightly, as it opened its mouth to send forth a burst of flames she knew to be an Ember attack. "Dodge it!" Alex cried, only to realize that it had known all about the Houndour, and did yet another perfect loop-de-loop out of the way.

Now, it was officially steamed. It began hopping up and down, trying to bite this frustrating featherbag, as Alex helplessly watched. Even as the Houndour spat out another Ember, the flames were simply snuffed out by an arrogant flapping of its wings, in a Gust attack. Which also blew it away into a tree, scraping its hide on the bark before it fell.

Now, the Houndour was _really _ticked. As it slowly stood up, its eyes glaring daggers, it began glowing.

_It's evolving, _Alex thought with a chill.

* * *

Back at the campsite, Ziri woke up, his eyes suddenlyrevealing the multitude of stars above him. Not knowing exactly why exactly he woke up, he simply listened.

His efforts were rewarded.

He heard crashing, howling, and the rush of wind beyond the line of trees, and he sat up, finding his Pokeballs. "Guys," he hissed, as to not wake up the girl besides him, "Let's go."

The spheres rattled slightly. They were ready. With that, Ziri carefully stepped in the direction of the mayhem being caused.

* * *

The Houndour's shape was changing; that was for sure. Even as Alex watched, feeling a sudden sense of fear, she saw that the skull plate on its forehead was beginning to grow curved horns covering the ears. Now, the short stubby tail was lengthening in the white light, growing into something huge. Slowly growing taller and taller and taller…

Even the Pidgey the Alex had caught, confident and having the skills to back it up, began to chirp its unease as the light faded, revealing a much taller Pokemon. Looking around, it spotted both terrified human and uneasy Pidgey and growled softly, "Houn… doom…"

Ziri watched the episode through the bushes, and quickly pointed the Pokedex at the newly evolved Pokemon, before hastily cranking the volume lower. "**Houndoom, the Dark Pokemon,**" it began, "**Long ago, people believed the howls of this Pokemon to be of the grim reaper. If it burns you with its flames, the pain will never go away.**"

_Not good._

Slowly, ever so slowly, it began stalking forward, clearly reveling in the ease of which it was causing terror.

"Aipom, Fake Out!"

The simian Pokemon suddenly popped out in front, causing a howl of shock while with quickly backpedaled- It didn't help that Aipom had thought to whack it with its tail along the way. As it bounced backwards, a cheeky smile on its face, Ziri ran over to Alex. "Shake it off!" he said, as he started actually shaking her in the process.

"Oww… You can stop now," she groaned.

"Thank god," Ziri growled in relief, as he turned back to the Houndoom. "Aipom, use Fury Swipes!" Just as the Houndoom opened its eyes, its snout was then furiously assaulted by many, many sharp swipes, made possible by the tail grappling onto its left horn.

As it spat out flames, Aipom simply hopped up, and using its horn-attached tail, slung herself onto its back, where it buckled in anger.

Seeing a chance, Alex shouted "Whirlwind!"

"Aipom, let go!" Ziri called, as immediately the Pidgey began flapping, flapping, and flapping until the massive front of air was blasted at the Houndoom. Thankfully, Aipom had let go just in time, so it alone was sent flying. And flying. And flying.

Silence again in the forest.

Ziri sighed. "Nice finisher," he commented, as he abruptly walked back to the campsite, withdrawing Aipom as he went.

"Thanks- W-wait!"

He turned, eyebrow raised. "What now?"

She paused. "I just wanted to say thanks… For catching Pidgey for me, and helping me out back there."

He shrugged, as he turned back. "No prob. Mercy is something everyone lacks these days, isn't it?"

* * *

Morning; day two on the road. But Ziri's day, despite his early wakeup last night, woke up at his customary time; six o'clock. Checking his Pokegear and making sure that it was exactly the time that he wanted, he quietly headed back onto the main path, where he released his sleepy Pokemon from their spheres. "Cynda?" Cyndaquil inquired sleepily as it stretched.

Ziri couldn't help but smile at this, but he went on anyway. "Wake up, sleepyheads, it's warm-up time. You know," he added for their benefit since they had never actually seen his routine before, "a workout for the day. And then we can relax until other stuff comes along."

He didn't need to elaborate on what _other stuff _meant, as the two quickly nodded.

"So, you two," he announced. "Can you do a practice battle for a few minutes? You know, just work on strength. I've got some things to check out."

He left them as the two assumed battle stances, the classic "Flame On!" act and the slow raising of Aipom's tail. He left them with a top speed "blur-run."

* * *

By the time eight o'clock hit, he had returned to the campsite where dead on cue the two girls there were stretching. "Ziri, what were you-" Hannah began, when she stopped dead, realizing he was accompanied by his two bruised and tired but somehow happy Pokemon.

And a massive armful of berries.

"What?" he asked, oblivious to her open-mouthed surprise. "It's what I do at least once a day. And these two," he added, indicating his two Pokemon looked on the verge of collapsing, "were training with me."

Now that he said it, she noticed some bands of sweat running down his forehead, sides and arms, as he fed his Pokemon a few berries from his cache. It also happened that his shirt was sticking to his body yet again, displaying with overwhelming obviousness the fact that he was very finely sculptured.

As she forced her eyes away from the sight, knowing that if she stared any long she'd be blushing, she noticed a cracking sound.

Ziri looked up from his significantly more energetic Pokemon; "What was that?"

Alex, who was now rubbing her eyes, noticed that Ziri's backpack was shaking. Going over and opening it, she discovered to her surprise the egg that Ziri had been carrying but yet hadn't bothered showing to them.

"What's this?" she asked, as a network of cracks began forming.

Gingerly taking out the egg, he almost dropped it when he realized it was shaking rapidly. "What the-"

Quickly setting it onto the ground, he and everyone else watched in fascination as the shell began to splinter. The top of the egg in particular, Ziri thought.

That's when he noticed that there were only two spots on the bottom where the egg was cracking- The entire top hemisphere of the egg was completely splintering.

With a final _crack, _the top egg pretty much imploded, showering everyone with fragments. As Ziri's swearing finally died down, he looked over, to discover…

A curious creature with a "crown" of spikes across its forehead and the egg still covering its bottom, save for two stubby arms and two stubby legs. What in the world was _this _thing?

Checking his Pokedex, it quickly began, "**Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokemon. As its energy, it uses the feelings of compassion and pleasure exuded by people and Pokémon. It stores up happy feelings in its shell, then shares them out.**"

Immediately, Cyndaquil padded up besides it. "Quil?" it asked.

"Togepiiiii!!" came the happy chirp, and suddenly it was running around in circles around a bemused Cyndaquil. Immediately, Aipom's tail snagged it, but in the process of waving it around, Ziri suddenly noticed that its hands were waving as it happily chirped. As the other Pokemon came in to join the fun (Complete with Hannah's Chikorita and Ledyba getting into the fray), Ziri noticed that its arms were glowing white.

"Uh, guys," Ziri said nervously, while his companions watched the debacle with a mixture of amusement and annoyance, "Why's its arms glowing-?"

His answer was instantly answered when suddenly, it opened its mouth and blasted out a stream of purple gas. In the middle of the crowd.

Immediately, the Pokedex still in Ziri's hand said, "**Poison Gas. The user expels a repulsive gas at the foe that will poison if touching or if inhaled**."

All three heard it at the same time, and they immediately went pale- If only to support their cause of panic, cries of pain came from the crowd, as they staggered out and flopped onto the ground in obvious pain, complete with shivering and a tinge of green on their skins (Flora the Chikorita technically was already green, but in her case there was purple).

Ziri groaned, and turned his attention to the pile of berries he had left. "I hate that egg," he mumbled, as he began searching for seven Pecha berries in the pile.

He was perfectly correct in his estimates; there were only eight Pokemon in their group if you counted the Togepi. Of course, being the one who actually _performed _the attack gave you obvious benefits against the effects, so he simply ignored getting the eighth one. Besides, he'd incidentally picked exactly seven anyway.

And true to his prediction, the Togepi merely clapped its hands as the Pokemon that it had inadvertently poisoned gave it glares- Which quickly fell from their faces as they watched the newborn play.

And that's when _he _made his move.

Ziri heard the bushes rustle, and by instinct he went completely still, as he observed his Pokemon play. The Togepi, technically, was his; after all, he had hatched it.

"You," came a voice from behind, in the direction that they were supposed to be heading.

Ziri turned around to see a boy his age, maybe slightly younger, looking dead into his eyes, Ziri's steel gray meeting this one's amber. "Yes, you," he said, in a cold voice that made him think of Totodile's thief, "I want to battle with you." Even as he said it, Ziri noticed the three Pokeballs that adorned his waist.

"I don't have three Pokemon," he began, but his opponent cut him off. "Yes you do," he said, pointing at Cyndaquil, Aipom, and Togepi all paddling forward.

Togepi, as stated before, was technically his.

"Fine," Ziri said. "Here?"

The stranger nodded. Taking a Pokeball, he expanded it, before he hurled it up into the air.

"Vulpix, get out there!"

The small fox Pokemon appeared, accompanied by white light. Blinking its beady eyes, it surveyed the ones in front of her curiously, as Ziri looked at his Pokemon.

"Alright, Aipom, you're up!"

Quickly scampering forward, the Long Tail Pokemon assumed a battle stance, grin in place as it wiggled its tail suggestively. Not impressed, the Vulpix's owner shouted "Ember!"

Immediately, it opened its mouth- But having seen so many Ember attacks these days, Ziri quickly countered with a cry of "Tail Whip and Doubleslap!"

The tail that had been waving in the air now intensified its rhythm, so all that came out of the fox's mouth was a pathetic sputter of flames. Before it could get its attention span back up, Aipom's speed got it over to where it was standing so fast and was Doubleslapping it so fast that its head looked like a blur.

"Vulpix, snap out of it!" the stranger snapped in annoyance as it backed away. "Use-"

"Fury Swipes!"

Before the Vulpix could look up, she was suddenly assaulted by a storm of sharp claws that left it with many, many marks. "Awesome, Aipom!" Ziri crowed as it danced backwards, its grin widening, if that was possible.

"Vulpix, use Confuse Ray," the stranger said coldly, annoyance flickering in his eyes. Quickly, the Vulpix's eyes glowed, and looked at the Aipom…

And proceeded to do nothing.

"Aipom?" Ziri asked after a few seconds, feeling something of an anticlimax, "Are you okay?"

It turned, the cheeky smile in place, and nodded.

"Why didn't it do anything?" Alex wondered aloud.

Hannah sighed. "It's a Ghost-type move, so obviously it wouldn't affect Normal type Pokemon."

The stranger gritted his teeth with frustration at having forgotten the type arrangement, and shouted "Try this! Will O' Wisp!"

Immediately, the Vulpix opened its mouth, to form an odd ball of bluish fire. As Aipom tilted her head to look curiously at it, it suddenly blasted forward, hitting a startled Aipom dead in the gut.

"Aipom!" Ziri shouted, panicked. "Are you okay!?"

She had staggered from the blow, but she had held strong against it and was now glaring at her opponent angrily. "Awesome! Now let's use-"

"Ember, now!" the stranger shouted, and Vulpix opened her mouth to spray the field with fiery bolts. Aipom succeeded in dodging most of those, taking only small hits in return for getting somewhat closer to the user.

"Tackle!"

"Tickle!"

Immediately, as the Vulpix charged, Aipom hopped forward as well- But instead of continuing, it stopped and as the fox neared her, reached out with the tail and rubbed the underside of its belly. Suddenly letting out a howl of what was obviously laughter, it crashed to the ground where it attempted to get back up- But the Long Tail Pokemon quickly jumped on top and began doing the same thing, but this time with both its arms added into the fray.

"I did _not _know Ziri was this evil," Alex muttered as laughter, Pokemon-style echoed through the land.

Hannah faced her. "You're really the one that undressed in front of him?"

Ziri spun around. "Do not do that again, you pervert!" he yelled childishly, his face red before he spun back to the battle.

Silence save for the laughing. Then the main source of the laughs shouted "Now! Doubleslap and Fury Swipes, tail and arms, face and body!"

The nature of this strange chain of commands was immediately understood when, quickly stopping the tickling barrage, the tail went to the face of the fox (It was upside down) and slapped it while the arms furiously swiped at the underside.

"Fight it, now!" the stranger snapped, earning Ziri a cold stare.

Yowling in pain, the fox withstood the barrage for only a few seconds, succeeding in spitting out a weak Ember at her attacker, before she fainted.

"Aipom, stop!" Ziri shouted, and Aipom bounded back, cheeky smile in place- And a scorch mark on her shoulder. Quickly stooping down, he felt the shoulder and felt his partner wince as he pushed gently down on it. "Are you okay?" he said softly, and she shook her head, holding the burned shoulder. "Wait a sec," he said, and found a Rawst berry and quickly applied it, pushing it against the shoulder so that the juices leaked out. The burn healed, rather painfully thanks to the indignant "AiAiAi!"

The stranger watched from afar, before he returned his Vulpix. Nobody caught the look of sorrow on his face as he shrank the ball and placed it back onto his belt; then the cold façade returned, and he hurled up the next ball, shouting "Go, Slowpoke!"

Ziri raised an eyebrow at it, but did not fall into a fit of laughter like yesterday. Knowing full well what havoc Slowpokes could wreak when it came to psychic abilities, he checked Aipom one last time. "Wanna go another round?" he asked it, and then groaned when it turned away, miffed, the grin downturning into a frown. "I've got another Oran Berry," Ziri quickly improvised, praying that the bribe would work.

It worked- Perfectly. Immediately it whirled around and held out her hands; shaking his head Ziri relented and handed over the promised berry. "I'm going to be running out of berries by the time I get to the league," he grumbled, watching the timid warrior inhale it in a nanosecond. "Now get out there, will ya?"

Fighting spirit restored, Aipom immediately charged out. Facing the Slowpoke, it immediately began dancing with glee at facing the Dopey Pokemon- The classification in itself was enough to make most people fall over laughing, but the appearance just made it worse.

"Slowpoke," the stranger said, not caring about the appearance or whatnot, "Confusion."

It only scratched its head.

Silence as the stranger hung his head. "Fine," he growled, "I'll get you some Rawst berries later… Wait, that thing _has _Rawst berry juice on it," he quickly pointed out, and the Slowpoke perked up.

Ziri stared at him. "You're going to make that thing _eat _my Pokemon? Are you insane, desperate, or all of the above?"

"Slowpoke, Confusion!" the stranger shouted, not even caring about what his opponent thought of him.

Ziri opened his mouth to quip a smart-aleck comment- But none came when he realized that the Slowpoke was glowing with an odd blue light and that Aipom was floating and shrieking in panic, much to his shock. "What the-"

Alex had her own Pokedex out first; it quickly started "**Confusion, a Psychic-type move that use a weak telekinetic force and may leave the user confused when used.**"

"That makes sense!" she gasped. "Slowpoke's a Psychic-type, so it would obviously know _that-"_

Her remarked were cut short as she winced, upon seeing Aipom getting thrown into a tree. Popping up, it angrily hopped up and down in anger. "Aipom, use Tail Whip and Doubleslap!" Ziri shouted, hoping that this combination would work.

It didn't, for Slowpoke only looked at his opponent with mild disinterest as she ran forward-

"Slowpoke, another Confusion," his master called, as if only an afterthought.

"_Why didn't you fall for it!?_" Aipom shrieked as she again was lifted into the air.

"_Huh? What happened?_"

Ziri had the same thought. "Why wasn't it-"

His opponent laughed. "Slowpoke isn't called the Dopey Pokemon for nothing, you know. It's got the ability Oblivious to prove it."

Ziri groaned at this obvious oversight, but his foe wasn't finished; he called "Hold it still but use Water Gun!"

Ziri groaned as his Pokemon took the hit full on. At the very least, it was strong enough to break her free of the Confusion as she was blasted across the field, but Aipom was very slow at getting up, and he knew that without long range attacks he had no way of countering.

"Aipom, return!" he shouted holding up the Pokeball so that the simian disappeared into red energy into the sphere. Looking around, he realized that he only had one option- Cyndaquil was a fire-type, cannon fodder for the combo that the Slowpoke had just performed, and that only left…

"Uh… Togepi, you're up?"

Hannah gasped. "It just hatched! What are you doing?"

He turned around and gave her a look. The look said, _shut up and let me do my own stuff. _

Ziri's opponent was snorting. "If that thing's a baby, then I'll give you a free move. Hurry up!"

As the Spike Ball Pokemon waddled forward, he got out his own Pokedex, checking the moves list.

Moves: Charm, Growl, Metronome…

Metronome. That was his only chance- He didn't like the way Charm sounded, considering that Slowpokes were obviously Oblivious. So…

"Togepi… Uh, Metronome?" Ziri asked weakly.

Chirping cheerily, it began waggling its fingers. And got them glowing. Ziri suddenly had a vision of what had happened only a few minutes before, and immediately began backing away.

The glow faded- Nothing happened. Ziri even checked his Pokedex; nothing registered, save- "**Metronome, a Normal-type that involves the waggling of fingers in order to stimulate the brain and body into performing a random move.**"

A random move?

And then Togepi began to cackle with electricity.

The stranger gasped. "Slowpoke, use-"

"TogePIIIIIII!!!!"

That's when the diminutive little egg-shaped Pokemon launched a gigantic bolt of electricity into the air.

Silence across the battlefield as suddenly foreboding dark clouds gathered- Directly over the Slowpoke. "Slowpoke," his owner began, suddenly panicked over this turn of events, but he never got to finish.

A second later a massive bolt of lightning smashed into Slowpoke, sending him yowling as the bolt held shape for a second, burning the image into everyone's retinas, before it faded, the clouds leaving, blinding everyone but Ziri who alone had thought about turning his head away, and, when he looked back, a massive scorch mark where the Slowpoke stood.

Its tail drooped, its leg shook, and then it fell on its belly with a dismal _thud _and did not move, obviously knocked out.

The Pokedex in Ziri's hand immediately chirped, "**Thunder, an Electric-type move. A wicked bolt of electricity is dropped onto the foe from up high, and may paralyze.**"

Despite Ziri's shaking and stunned surprise, he couldn't help but whistle. "This thing's got one part right," he said wryly, "the wicked part."

"Wow," Hannah said, her eyes still dazzled by the light. "That would be incredible for contests…"

"Yeah," Alex agreed.

Ziri heard. "Don't even think about trying to steal my Togepi," he growled, spinning around before spinning full circle back to the battlefield. The stranger had recalled his Slowpoke, but was looking at it with a strange mix of sorrow and rage; then, it shrank and he put it back onto his belt. "Let's see how you manage _this,_" he said, and Ziri caught a hint of smugness in his tone.

"Go, Houndour!"

Ziri groaned as the Dark Pokemon appeared. "Haven't I dealt with enough of them around here?" His response was significantly more muted than Alex's who quickly turned pale and began backing away. Hannah had no clue of what had happened last night, so at the raised eyebrow Alex turned her head down in embarrassment.

"Togepi," he said, "You've done awesome, but this isn't your fight."

It turned at me, nodding, and then scampered back over behind me. That left…

"Cyndaquil, Flame On!" Ziri shouted.

Hopping forward, the Fire Mouse quickly blasted out the flames from its back. As Ziri looked over at the opposite side, he caught a chilling smile on his opponent's face, before he yelled, "Houndour, Bite!"

As the dog-likePokemon charged, Ziri called "Ember!"

The fireballs flew, but they, strangely enough, caused the Houndour not to cry in pain but to simply stop and appear as if it was enjoying the barrage as the flames wrapped around its body.

Ziri was flabbergasted, like his Pokemon. "What the heck is _that_?"

Hannah, however, gasped. "Flash Fire-! Ziri, Fire-type attacks are useless against Houndour! It'll just absorb it and-"

"Use it to power its own Fire-type attacks," the stranger said smugly. "And the last time I checked, Cyndaquils don't have anything like it…"

Ziri paled. "Smokescreen, quick!" he yelled, panicked.

Sensing its trainer's panic, it immediately obeyed, sending forth a massive burst of smoke forward. The two thought they were in the clear, until they heard "Charge through and use Ember!"

The Houndour burst though the smoke, sending forth the bolts of fire that happened to be twice as large as what Cyndaquil had used-

"Curl up into a ball! Use your back!" Ziri shouted, remembering the entry for Cyndaquil that he had heard only three days previously. Time to find out whether that fur was really fireproof or not…

It was. Although it was knocked backwards, Cyndaquil didn't cry out in pain from the flames, which only fizzled out upon contact with the bluish-black fur.

The Smokescreen cleared, and now the Houndour charged in for another attempt at Bite. Improvising wildly, Ziri yelled "Quick Attack!"

Uncurling from the ball it was curled up in, Cyndaquil disappeared as a blur, only to reappear slamming the side of the Houndour. As it staggered, Ziri shouted "Tackle!"

"Not so fast! Roar!" Although Cyndaquil had drawn true first blood, the Houndour turned its head and made a sound that was simply to large for it to do under normal circumstances- But here it was, and the resulting blast managed to blast the charging Cyndaquil into a tree, where it cried out in pain as it fell down.

"Bite!"

This time, the charge was a success; as Cyndaquil looked up, the fangs of the Houndour came down solidly on its body, and it squealed in pain as the Houndour shook it around.

"Smokescreen!" Ziri yelled, realizing that this was getting dangerous.

The ploy succeeded- The Houndour let go in panic as its eyes were invaded by the smoke. Cyndaquil quickly scampered back to Ziri's front and turned around to face its foe, who was shaking off the smoke's effects.

They glared at each other. That was true.

Ziri decided to try something different. "Leer then Quick Attack!"

Immediately, under the influence of the Physically Impossible Death Stare Of Doom (PIDSOD, as Ziri decided to call it since Cyndaquil's eyes weren't open), the Houndour froze in fear, and paid for it in full when the echidna crashed into it at high speed, this time scooting away before it could get Roared into a tree. Or something worse.

"Fine! Houndour, charge forward using Leer!"

"Blind it! Smokescreen!"

Only a small puff of smoke came out as Cyndaquil came under the influence of a physically possible death stare, but it somehow drifted right into the eyes of his opponent. As it yelped, scratching at its eyes, Cyndaquil charged forward at the yell of "Tackle!"

But small never got you very far in life.

The Houndour had been feinting all along- With smoke like that it certainly needed to close its eyes, but it did not need to spend that long cleaning out its eyes.

"Bite," came the cool command, and the jaws closed around its leg.

Cyndaquil shrieked as the Houndour lifted up its head to its full extent, dangling its leg from its jaws. Ziri shouted "Break free!" in panic, but it was useless- The Houndour simply bit down harder.

That's when the echidna curled upwards, so that its snout pointed at its opponent's neck. Before anyone could comprehend, suddenly a flash of yellow was seen, and a look of actual pain crossed the Houndour's face as it yowled and hopped backwards, retching from whatever had hit its throat.

Cyndaquil staggered backwards, its leg seriously injured. "Are you okay?" Ziri said, both worried and confused. What was that flash of light, and why had that thing made the jaws let go?

It turned its head and nodded. Though he didn't believe that a leg wound like that could be not serious, he decided to finish this battle.

But how? He knew that his Pokemon could no longer run, and Embers were useless. But what was that light-?

"Houndour, finish it with one more Bite!"

As it charged, Ziri opened his mouth to order a Smokescreen, but he never got a chance to pass air through his throat.

Because Cyndaquil opened his mouth, and a sudden stream of blindingly bright stars were sent forth, all meeting their target.

The attack was powerful enough to lift his opponent off his feet.

Silence, as the Houndour woozily got up.

"It… it learned Swift?" Alex whispered, wide-eyed.

"**Swift,**" the Pokedex chimed, "**A Normal-type attack. This attack will never miss as the user launches a stream of stars to strike the foe.**"

Ziri looked up at his counterpart- Now **he **had a deadly smile on his face.

"Let's finish this."

* * *

**Monday's the day I get back to daily updates!! Thanks to everyone for reading this, but remember- I'll only take OCs via review, so if you send it to me through PMs then I'll instantly delete!!**

**Review. NAO. **


	7. Doomsday till the end of today

**I personally do not like this chapter. I've written this through many distractions, and I believe that in the process the quality has suffered, and therefore I owe K. Fang a very heartfelt apology- There is no other way to say that. **

**Also, since I was exhausted from last the last chapter's seven-thousand word binge, I shortened this one by a lot. So, for those who like long chapters, lynch me when you finish this...**

**But heck, I got 8 reviews alone last time for one chapter. Now that's just pwnage ;D**

**Happy Reading!**

* * *

The stranger couldn't believe what was going on, or so Ziri sensed. No wonder- His opponents Cyndaquil no longer had to move dangerously close to the Houndour, nor did he risk powering up Houndour's own attacks via Flash Fire.

In short, Ziri had the poor guy cornered.

He seemed to reach a decision. "Houndour, Roar!"

As its mouth opened, Ziri too reached a decision. "Stay low on the ground and stay strong!"

He was simply invoking a law of aerodynamics- If you have low air resistance, you have a lesser chance of being blasted off, far, far away. The fact that he made sure that his Pokemon's small arms and legs stuck onto the ground certainly helped…

And so the burst of air passed, and Ziri caught the chance to yell "Swift!"

The blast of stars all struck, even though the Houndour had tried jumping out of the way- True to the Pokedex entry, the stars all homed in on the target, causing a large amount of pain as the victim skidded across the ground, yowling.

"Keep going! Bite!" the stranger ordered, now frustrated.

_The faster they come, the harder they fall, _Ziri mentally said, smirking in real life. Waiting until the last second when the Houndour leaped, he shouted "Now! Aim for underside and use Swift!"

The Houndour was a difficult opponent and had wounded his friend's leg, but Ziri winced anyway when all the stars hit dead on and the look of pain in the eyes of the Dark Pokemon became visible. Combined the forward momentum that made the impact hurt more than it should have, the Houndour visibly jerked in midair, before crashing down vertically, having all its momentum stolen by the last minute blow.

Though Ziri knew it was a gamble, he knew here was a chance to finish it. "If you can, use Tackle!" he shouted.

Yes, Cyndaquil could, but in a botched manner. He staggered up on one leg and two arms, crawled over, and then threw itself forward, send its opponent sprawling.

"Ember!" the stranger yelled in anger, hating the fact that his Pokemon was being thrown around.

From its position on its side, it quickly spat out a stream of fireballs that were countered by…

"Ember!"

Flames versus flames. Neither won, and since they were just bursts of flame they caused no explosion- Which would have been awesome for Ziri, who wanted to have a smokescreen to use Swift through. But, since he could see his opponent, then he guessed that keeping tabs was never a bad thing…

Especially as now, another Roar was ordered. "See if you can use Swift through it!" Ziri shouted.

The stars flew forward, hanging in the air for a second fighting the air front before they turned to dust, dispersing- In the meantime, Ziri realized that the force of the air was less than expected, realizing that as they continued to rain the hits on the Houndour its strength was weakening.

So, keep beating the living crap out of it- Simple. "Cyndaquil, Swift!" came the order as the Houndour attempted to get to its feet. Yelping, it was thrown into the air by the barrage and came down with a hard, dust-raising landing.

Ziri saw a shadow of concern cross his opponent's face, before he shouted "Charge! Roar and then Bite!"

"Swift!"

Now it was taking longer and longer for the Houndour to gather the strength to Roar, so the Swift got there first. Again sent flying, this time it could barely stand, the five in-total Swift attacks finally taking its toll.

The Houndour shoved itself up, somehow, and caused Ziri to groan. "Does that thing not know what the term 'staying down' means?"

"He doesn't."

Ziri blinked twice; he hadn't expected such a fast response. "What do you mean by-"

"He won't stop. He can't stop."

"Okay," Ziri said, "you're really pulling my chain on this one. Order it to stop already, genius!"

He continued shaking his head. "Watch." Now, he called out; "Houndour, stop! Your wounds are too-"

Before he could go on any further, the Houndour turned around, snarling. Immediately, he shut up; the Houndour went on staggering towards Cyndaquil. "What kind of Pokemon does _that_?" Ziri wondered aloud.

Ten feet away, he spat out a weak burst of flame in an obvious Ember attack that died five feet away. Angered, it threw itself forward, but collapsed in a whimper of pain as it pushed itself on its left foreleg.

Ziri was forcing all of his self-control into not cringing. "Cyndaquil, Tackle it, but don't hurt it-"

Unfortunately, Cyndaquil wasn't listening either. Throwing himself forward, he slammed into the prone form of his form, but the momentum carried them both forward together. Taking the opportunity, Houndour opened its mouth and chomped down on his opponent's body.

"Stop!" Ziri yelled. But it was no use- Cyndaquil again repeated the trick of the close range Swift, and again Houndour was thrown back. They stared at each other with the ferocity of lions; yet neither made a move, Houndour from injuries, Cyndaquil from waiting for orders.

"Why won't they stop?" Hannah asked, slightly sickened at the ferocity at which they were fighting; Alex had her hand over her mouth. Togepi, behind Ziri, was looking at the battle with sorrow, yet it did not have any bravery to talk.

Ziri sighed- He only had one option left.

He raised his right hand. His opponent on the other side of the field instantly realized what he was about to do- But it was too late.

"I forfeit!"

* * *

A few more miles down the road, in Violet City, a boy, maybe eleven or twelve, with long, somewhat girlish hair with six white stripes was busy trying to prove his case for trying to nab some money from an unwary idiot who was observing the contents of a wayside stall.

With a Beldum.

"Oh c'mon, Rag!" he quietly whined with watching the man, who had his back pockets overflowing with the contents of not one, not two, but _four _wallets. "He's not gonna miss one wallet, when he's got four!"

The levitating iron bar, with an eye in a ball at one end and three claws on the other, gave him a glare. Obviously meaning, _Don't try it, you fool._

"But Rag, the thing is we're starving here! He's got too much money, he practically smells like it, maybe he _is _it! I mean, if we could-"

Another glare.

Before more whining could commence, a Pokeball on his belt burst open, revealing an Eevee. Before they registered it, she had Tackled the Beldum and Sand-Attacked the boy, creating howls of agony as they attempted to get their bearings.

When they did, this time they _both _glared at the Eevee. "Yuki…" the boy said, cracking his knuckles menacingly, but then groaned. "Okay, we might have gotten a _bit _carried away, but…"

* * *

The two Pokemon still in the battle spun around, stunned. The stranger visibly jerked in surprise, Hannah and Alex gasped, and Togepi just stared up at its owner, wide-eyed.

Cyndaquil, enraged, began waving its arms up and down. "CyndaCynda!" it cried, gesturing to its opponent. "CyndaCyndaquil!"

Ziri was already shaking its head. "I'm stopping this," he said loudly, "because you two are too hurt to go on and neither of you can stop on your own. So, I'm calling it quits if you two can't."

The stranger sighed, and nodded. "I accept. Houndour return-"

Although the leg injuries were severe, he still somehow managed to dodge the beam of light that came his way. "Houndour!" he said, shocked. "Why-"

At the same moment, Ziri was trying to reason with his own Pokemon on the other side of the field, but no use- Pointing out the wounds only made his partner more and more obstinate to the possibility that he would forfeit.

"I didn't forfeit for him, I forfeited for both of you!" he said in frustration. "Don't you see? You've got a mangled leg, and you're too exhausted-"

At the last part, Cyndaquil's flame vents blasted upwards in a show of direct challenge to my assumption.

But my assumption was correct anyway, for the flames died out after a few seconds, sputtering in smoke as it collapsed. "There," Ziri endeavored to say, "You can't complete combustion, so-"

Then he realized that Cyndaquil was glaring at him, and then he opened his mouth- A Swift attack no doubt.

He was right- The stars struck him and he staggered in pain. Ziri heard the two behind him yell his name in panic as he fell over from the force of the attack. Feeling two people prop him up, he tried to regain my vision; but now he felt blood trickle down his jaw, and the teen knew that a star or two in the barrage had struck it quite violently.

"Owww," was the only thing he could get out of his aching jaw. Now he opened his eyes-

The battlefield was deserted, but the stranger was yelling into the forests to Ziri's right in a strangely desperate tone, "Houndour, come back! You'll never survive a day in there with those wounds-!"

"They _left_?" Ziri said in disbelief, as he struggled to get up- But the arms of the two girls forced him down. "Both of them in the same direction?"

The stranger nodded darkly. "Something tells me that if they don't kill each other first, then the Pokemon of the forest will."

"God dammit, I'm going in," Ziri began, but he was shoved to the ground.

"Stay down!" Hannah barked. "We'll go look- You have your own Pokemon to look after. And you-" she said, pointing at the stranger- Seeing the fury in her eyes, Ziri was quite surprised that he only flinched instead of jumping back "If you hadn't been so cocky with challenging him, then none of this would happened. Stay!"

With that, Hannah a slightly frightened Alex charged into the forest.

Silence on the battlefield, and Ziri sighed, as the pain throbbed through his body. That Swift had been launched in pure anger, and therefore he was not surprised that it hurt this much.

"That's one hell of a crazy lady friend you have there."

That was the stranger, and as Ziri looked up he seemed to be looking away into the forest, obviously worried about his Houndour- And slightly scared of Hannah's wrath.

"Hell," Ziri chuckled, "You don't know half of it." It didn't hurt to breathe anymore- That was good.

"And you should have seen the other one. She once took off her skirt in front of me, but I knocked myself out with a tree before I could see."

Silence. Then the stranger slowly turned to Ziri. "She took off her _skirt _in front of you? And you knocked yourself out with a _tree_?"

"Like this," Ziri said, rolling his eyes, and hauled himself up. Walking over to the nearest tree, he grabbed it and then reared up his head-

"Stop! Stop Stop Stop!"

Ziri let go of the tree and looked at the stranger in surprise. "What, you wanted to see, right? Or did you only want to see her take off her skirt?" he asked teasingly.

The guy immediately took a step back. "I'm… I'm not perverted… like… like you-!"

Ziri rolled his eyes. "She was the one who did it, not me, you fool."

"And," the stranger said, looking determined to ignore the last statement, "Why did you want to slam your head against a tree? Are you… Are you lacking nerves on your forehead?"

Ziri paused- That was, after all, a good question. "I have no sense of fear in me… I just weigh the consequences and benefits. Consequences- You stab me in the chest while I'm out. Benefits- You run away screaming bloody murder. But I had no sense of fear in doing it. That's all, pretty much."

His counterpart regarded him thoughtfully. "You have a strange way of thinking of things… Ziri."

The boy in question narrowed his eyes. "And you are…?"

"Gale. Gale Harper."

* * *

Hannah was seriously beginning to regret her outburst that had gotten them into this stupid forest.

It was dark, too many things were rustling, and the last twenty minutes of relentless searching hadn't found a single sign of the Houndour nor the Cyndaquil. Alex was busy shivering, imagining the Houndoom from last night to be somewhere.

"Where _are _they?" Hannah said in frustration as she kicked aside a bush, half expecting to see a Pokemon- Preferably one of the two rogue fire-types. However, it only revealed a patch of moist soil- No sign of any Pokemon.

Alex, looking around nervously, saw a Hoothoot staring at her; in a case of terrible nerves, she barked "Blaze, Ember!"

As the poor Hoothoot flew off, indignantly decrying its rough burning treatment, Hannah turned to her. "Why are you so high-strung in this place? It's not like there's-"

Her eyes widened, all the while shrieking. "There's a Houndour!? Where?"

Hannah sighed. "I haven't seen it-"

Her younger, slightly more immature counterpart sighed in relief. "Oh good… I mean," she said, quickly fibbing, "I think I saw a Houn_doom_…"

"Oh."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they came back out, shaking their head.

Ziri sighed. Useless. "I want to wait here. You guys keep going."

Gale groaned at his former opponent's hard-headedness, but he said "I'm staying as well. You two keep going," he said, indicating the girls.

They flushed. "You're saying that we can't-" Alex began hotly, Blaze, Dark, and Light all opened their mouths to agree, but Ziri cut them all off.

"It's just that you guys don't have a personal stake in this, okay? It's our Pokemon, and if this guy Gale agrees," indicating the newcomer, who averted his eyes "Then we'll both stay here and wait."

The two boys and two girls- Well, one boy and two girls- glared at each other, before Ziri finally relented. "Fine, but could you… well, leave us alone while we wait? Like train for contests and stuff."

They looked like they still had things to say, but knowing how much the teen had given in for him to say that, they went their separate ways.

* * *

In the forest a Cyndaquil with a badly wounded leg was limping along, two hours later. Hannah and Alex _would _have seen him- But they had believed that it was necessary to stay in the open in this forest. They had walked past him three times from where he was in the bushes, so that testified to his hiding abilities.

It helped that the top of his body was blackish-blue, at least…

It was now eleven in the morning- Incredible way to begin a day, Cyndaquil was thinking. Already he was having doubts about leaving, but he pressed on.

He should have beaten that stupid dog into submission! Why hadn't his master thought the he was more than capable of showing that Houndour that he was stronger, more resourceful, faster… _better_?

And he had forfeited just because that dog had no sense of when to surrender!

As he limped along, he spied a family of Sentret watching him warily. He passed them- He had no intention of idle chatter, nor did he want help. His wounds were his and his alone to bear.

Not far away, the Houndour that was so mentioned was laying still, his wounds overwhelming his anger. Although it simmered, the anger was slowly cooling as reason began to stream through. He wouldn't last long here, without attention, but he wasn't going back to a master that accepted a forfeit- No, he would never lose, or win through such a humiliating manner!

His thoughts were interrupted by the rustling of the bushes, and he turned his head sharply, only to find nothing more than a Ledyba.

He turned his head, going back to licking his own wounds.

Only seconds later, his foe stepped out.

They stared at each other, then prepared to spring. But they stopped anyway- Simultaneously yelping, they both collapsed- Houndour from the general nature of the injuries, Cyndaquil from the badly mangled leg.

Glaring at each other, Houndour spoke first. "_Are you going to finish me off here?_" he hissed. "_With a leg like that you can't do that star attack!_"

"_Oh really!?_" his opponent snapped, and opened his mouth.

Sure, the stars shot out- But they dispersed a second later.

Slightly horrified by his failure to land a single blow, he responded. "_Well, you can't even Roar to save you life, hypocrite!_"

"_Was that a challenge? I'll blow you away!_" was the snarled response, and the Houndour opened his mouth.

Nothing. His head flopped down. "_Damn,_" he gasped, as his the pain of his wounds flared. At the same moment, his fellow fire-type fell to the ground, whimpering in pain as he had accidentally put too much pressure on it.

When the pain passed, they yet again gave each other cold stares. "_Let's face it,_" Cyndaquil said through gritted teeth, "_We're both burned out, in pain, and we're hungry._"

"_Only you! I'm still ready to-_"

"_Try standing up, fool!_"

He couldn't. Neither could his opponent.

The entire forest then stayed away from that little sun-shaded clearing, for whoever went in immediately got a double death glare. In fact, they wouldn't have moved had a helpful Noctowl used Hypnosis to snap them out of it- Simple. So for the next thirty minutes, they groomed themselves while deliberately ignoring the fellow fire-type in front of each other.

At the exact same moment, each other declared in a sullen voice, "_This has got to stop._"

And so, grudgingly, they picked themselves up and began walking back to the road, each keeping themselves a good six feet away from each other and constantly exchanging glares.

* * *

Two o'clock; Ziri and Gale were still waiting by the trees. However, both were feeling frustration building up inside them at not entering the forest themselves- It was also spilling out into the way they were looking at each other. Ziri's eyes were slowly cranking up the intensity to the point where he could have set a tree on fire if he was that angry at one, while Gale's were beginning to have a chill to rival Antarctica.

Immediately, each stood up, glaring at each other; Ziri with the heat, Gale with the chill.

Instantly understanding what each wanted, they then strode off into the trees, but, unknown to them but exactly like their Pokemon, staying at least six feet away.

* * *

Two hours of crashing through the bush- Only Ziri's devotion to his own Pokemon managed to push him this far, but he was about to call it quits. Same with Gale, only he had broken a long time ago, but he had come back. Ziri had the small sense of satisfaction that he could go on for longer without snapping, but it was buried in concern and fear of what was happening to his first Pokemon.

And that's when they began hearing the yowling, squealing, howling, and then silence. Ziri didn't even say anything- By the time the squealing started, he was already blur-running, leaving Gale confused exactly where his fellow trainer had gone, before he followed the noises.

* * *

It all started last night when the Houndoom was blown away via Whirlwind.

That was all good- But that Houndoom was hungry. So, it was prowling the forest snapping at anything that moved. But in that part of the forest there was a windstorm, so it pretty much ate nothing more than leaves.

Now, with a stomachache, it was prowling, occasionally retching, and now _very _annoyed since he had no prey. Houndooms are carnivores. But he saw the two fire-types trudging along, so, in his relief that he wasn't going to starve, he stepped in front of them.

"_Hello, kids,_" it said, drooling from the mouth.

* * *

At the spot on the road, Alex and Hannah came back, exhausted after three hours training. All of Alex's Pokeballs were full; he shoulder was bare and the ground around her was clear of all Pokemon.

"Where'd they go?" Hannah asked, who's Ledyba she had now nicknamed Starlight had just learned Comet Punch- And had made Flora pay for it when she suddenly found herself battered by some fifty punches in a row.

Then they saw Ziri's backpack missing, and she groaned. "Did they ditch us?"

* * *

Instantly, they began backing away.

Before they could get too far, the much larger dog attacked the much smaller one, knocking it away with a paw. Yelping, he tumbled against the ground before coming to a rest.

Cyndaquil couldn't help it- Quickly, using its two arms in place of its second leg, it threw itself forward in a Tackle attack. Grunting with surprise, the Dark Pokemon staggered, before giving the Fire Mouse the evil eye. Growling softly, it stalked forward…

Only to howl in rage upon feeling a sting on the tail, literally, as its unevolved foe used Bite on the tail. As it whirled around, chasing it (Like, actual dogs chasing tails), Cyndaquil took the opportunity to launch a Swift attack the struck dead on the snout.

Again yowling and now furious, taking this as a rehash of last night, it pounced, as Cyndaquil squealed in terror. He felt himself being slammed into, rolling on the soft forest floor until he came to a stop, face up.

Then he felt the drool drip down on him, and he looked up to see the jaws closing around him…

"OH NO YOU DON'T!"

That's when a sneaker crashed into the side of the Houndour.

As it bounced along the ground before only stopping when it slammed into a tree, Ziri, who had suddenly appeared, quickly cradled Cyndaquil in his arms. "Cyndaquil! Answer me," he said desperately. "Are you okay?"

The echidna managed to weakly nod, before it reached up and licked him.

The same kind of thing was happening with Gale, if only slightly different since Houndour was unconscious.

"Houn… Doom…"

That stopped the joyous reunion when the Houndoom picked itself up, enraged. As it prepared to spring, Ziri knew that he couldn't throw out a Pokeball, for that would be too slow. He could try catching it, but had no Pokeballs. He had one final option, and that was in the Togepi that he had unceremoniously stuffed in a backpack when he had first run into the forest.

"Metronome!" he yelled as he dived to the side, to avoid the lunge. Then- "Aww, crap!" as Togepi tumbled out of his backpack…

Already waving its fingers as it began chirping.

Immediately, the glowing fingers stopped, but the glowing did not- In fact, Ziri realized that he himself was glowing a strange, multi-colored but predominantly white light.

And then they vanished from the clearing- Gale, Togepi, and Ziri. Everyone. Not including the crazed and now delirious Houndoom.

As soon as Hannah finished talking, she had the incredible misfortune to have Ziri land on her.

Alex was lucky- Openmouthed, she watched as Gale slammed into the ground dead in front of _her_, while Togepi bounced along the ground doing the classic cheery chirps.

Ziri, eyes tightly shut and cradling his badly hurt Cyndaquil, suddenly realized that he couldn't breathe.

Actually opening his eyes, he discovered that it was dark- Was he still in the forest? But why couldn't he breathe? And what the heck was this weird pressure in his face?

That's when Hannah, woozy after being knocked around on the head, realized that Ziri was not moving, and his head was buried deep inside her prodigious chest.

She and Alex performed bloodcurdling shrieks that instantly woke up his Houndour into howling- In other words, the road was now filled with enough noise to have raised the dead, much like the kind of scream the mother of Zirienji Axlhedron could do. Except add the eerie howls of a Houndour, and you have a sound so destructive that even Ziri, wanting nothing more than comfort for his Pokemon, jumped up and tackled Alex.

"SHUT UP!"

Hannah was on ground, red as a cherry; Alex was on the ground cradling her head and Gale was leaning against a tree, slightly out of his head at this point. Only Ziri was standing up now, and he was livid. "I go into a forest for two hours, I kick a Houndoom into a tree-" at the mention of a Houndoom Alex fainted "I get teleported somewhere and then for the next second I can't breathe because something soft is stopping me PROPERLY RESPIRATING!"

Then he realized that the last part was echoing around the landscape and he shut up.

Hannah stalked up to him so fast that he never had chance to dodge her punch in his exhausted state. As he fell, befuddled with blood trickling down his jaw, she stalked away, muttering something about "My stupid luck for him to land on me dead in my-"

Let's not mention the last part.

* * *

That night Ziri was still awake. Gale was sleeping farther from the group, because as Ziri knew he still felt guilty about causing the whole mess and their hurt Pokemon.

"Cynda?"

He turned his head to see his partner limping slightly towards him. Ziri, however, felt confident that in the morning the limp would disappear, and all would be fine with the leg. But...

He reached out with his arm, and the Fire Mouse crawled up onto it instead of hopping on it. Despite all the berries Ziri had administed, he couldn't give it back all the strength that it had expended, so he gave it a shortcut.

When it was nestled on his chest, the squinty eyes found him, and he saw tears streaming down its cheeks. His owner reached out and wiped them away. "Don't cry," he said softly. "Today wasn't your fault."

He didn't think so. "Quil..."

"No it's not," Ziri said softly, "You just got angry with me. Don't we all get angry?"

"Cyndaquil. Cynda!"

"Okay, now I know that you're guilty for hitting me with that Swift attack, but still. That's not you fault. Seriously." He set it down besides him. "We all want to win in the world, and I was making you lose. It should be my fault that I even thought of forfeiting... I guess a lot of other things could have worked just as fine. Don't beat yourself, up," Ziri said warningly, but then his head fell backwards and he sighed.

"I've done what you did before a lot of times. She was my mother, and I did the exact same thing you did to me."

A those words, Cyndaquil squealed in soft surprise. "But she always forgave me. So I'll forgive you. How's that?"

Silence. Ziri closed his eyes, a smile playing on his face as his beloved partner snuggled itself up besides him, and he drifted into the wonderful abyss of sleep.

* * *

**So Violet City's coming tomorrow. Expect the return of Totophobia!**

**Remember to Review~!**


	8. Fear da Fearow

**I can't keep up the 6000 word+ pace anymore! . Oh well, if I can't do it with the content then I'll just stuff this one with a half-battle and another half-battle... equaling one full battle!! ;D **

**Ziri: Have you noticed that that kind of logic never gets anybody anywhere?**

**GARG! WHERE THE-**

**Ziri: I'm here to remind you that you haven't disclaimed yourself for some time now. So I'm here to cover for you, nitwit. Screamingedge does not own anything close to Pokemon or else instead of having multiple version mascots you'd only have me. Bah.**

**Oh, and there's a special quote in the first thousand words that a certain someone gave me in a review for last chapter (Eight reviews again!? You guys FREAKIN' ROCK!). Who can catch it?**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

If looks could kill, then Hannah would have been declared guilty of first-degree murder once she settled her gaze on Ziri. As usual, he woke up at six, got all his Pokemon in a training battle, and snagged as many berries as he physically could carry. And in that he had trouble since now he had stay as far out of the main area of the forest in case that psychotic Houndoom popped up again- Therefore, it took him an extra hour.

Catching Hannah's eye, he returned the gaze with a raised eyebrow, and went back to feeding his Pokemon- And now…

"Will everybody feed their Pokemon already? I mean, like you guys aren't dumb enough to possibly think that if you just leave a Pokemon in there they get fed you know… Are we, like, pretty much all Pokemon abusers here?"

They all glared at him- Even Gale- But they obeyed, if only to get him to shut up on his rant.

And that's when Ziri suddenly (To everyone else) got the idea into his head to throw berries into the open mouths of all the Pokemon present. It all started with Blaze the Charmander; then Flora got, dead in the mouth, a random Rawst berry flying out of Ziri's hands.

Hannah officially hated Ziri- But if there was one thing at that moment that she could say good about him, it would've been the fact that he had impossibly good aim. Okay, another thing- He was so damned cute. And… another thing in that he had the best body of any boy she'd seen in years…

All was fine; that was, of course, until he started throwing them at Gale's Pokemon, who actually dodged them. Of course, Ziri now began to "fake whine" pitifully loud at this point, and only stopped when Gale said in a very icy tone that his Pokemon could eat what they wanted, thank you very much.

Normally, Ziri would have started the trash-talking, but right now, the day after the incident with the Houndoom, Ziri knew it wasn't the time to do it. So he immediately went back to feeding his own Pokemon (Yes, his feeling last night was correct- The limp of his Cyndaquil was well and truly gone), Alex had the nerve to ask, "What happened yesterday?"

He turned to her as Togepi happily ate a Cheri berry out of his hand. "You mean, before I accidentally landed in someone's massive bust?"

Hannah gave him a death glare that could have scared a Gengar into submission.

Ignoring that, he proceeded to explain. "Remember that Houndoom yesterday?" Ziri asked.

Alex groaned. "Don't tell me… You dealt with it?"

"Well, yeah," Ziri said nonchalantly.

"Then how the heck did you suddenly appear out of nowhere… And you landing on… Well…" Alex fiddled around with an imaginary wrinkle in her skirt, thanks to something of a pink tint across her cheeks from the odd memory.

Ziri, as opaque as possible as usual, calmly said "Togepi and Metronome. And then Teleport."

"Teleport?" Alex said, surprised. "As in-"

"Yes, the kind of thing those stupid Abra do when they see you."

"Tell your Togepi next time not to Teleport YOU on ME." Hannah said very crossly.

Ziri calmly rolled his eyes. "I can't control where I Teleport, and besides what Togepi did was totally random. Metronome does any move possible, so it's not my fault that I landed somewhere less than noble. Besides…" he paused, thoughtfully, and when he looked at her there was mischief in his eyes. "The only reason that you're raising this up is…" He finished this off with a suggestive stare.

Her face slowly colored. "Sh-shut up," she stuttered. "I'm… I'm not-"

"Riiight. Then why are you denying it _and _blushing…?"

"It's… It's called embarrassment!"

"Of what kind-"

Hannah got up, and then walked over so fast- A formidable task for one wearing two-and-a-half inch heels- And punched him so hard for the second time in two days that he was undoubtedly out cold before he hit the ground.

Silence in the clearing as Gale looked away, embarrassed to be there, and Alex began to nervously giggle. Ziri was out cold with a bemused look on his face, blood trickling down his jaw yet again, and his Pokemon were gently pushing and prodding to wake him up, while Hannah looked at him with a kind of vindication.

"Next time, you'll be in the infirmary," she said, rubbing an aching knuckle, and stalked away as the color slowly faded from her cheeks.

* * *

It was another few miles, but by three in the afternoon everyone had reached Violet City, in one piece with few Pokemon in their way. Passing through the guardhouse that overlooked both Violet City and some of Route 31, it was like passing through an entirely different world. The wilds where the gang of four had come from; the urban area when they went out through the tall structure.

The noise, which they had heard outside Violet City, was subdued inside the guardhouse where bored guards let them go through with disinterest; on the other side it was blasted into their ears ferociously.

Ziri looked around. Technically, this was his first time in a city, though he didn't show it, but as he looked around it wasn't too different from the buildings of New Bark Town and Cherrygrove City. The alleys were all there- Ziri was already confident he could navigate around with ease. Stores and stalls everywhere, now _that _was new, and the crowds.

The crowds made him instinctively shrink back, which Alex noticed. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

"I don't like large groups of people. They… they remind me of somewhere I hated."

The answer was his school. Each day had been a living hell as entire crowds, chatting and pushing and laughing, had instantly silenced as soon as he came within thirty feet. If he wanted to go through, the crowd parted before him, and he continued, demeanor unchanged.

Deep inside, every time it happened he wanted to scream. What had made me a marked man, the one who could never truly integrate with people? What had caused him to be alone?

He knew the answer. They all hated him, and besides- If Norman hadn't been lying, then it was true that New Bark Town was an idyllic place- When people wanted to have a child or two, they married and then did whatever.

He had seen the marriage license. He knew that his parents had correctly and faithfully wed some sixteen years ago, one year before he, Zirienji Axlhedron, was born.

But the inhabitants of New Bark Town did not know that. The rule in the place was if you wanted to get married, you got married there.

He was not a bastard child, but with no father ever since he was known to exist in New Bark Town he was deemed one by pretty much everyone, as the ripples of gossip, rumors, and information, becoming warped and twisted as it went, spread.

He was being stared at as he relieved this piece of his own history that he wished had never happened. "What?" he asked. "I just don't like it. Does that mean I have to in order to be in this place? I'm going to look for the gym now, so see you guys… At the park right over there," he wildly fibbed, pointing at a small green. "Or the nearest Pokemon Center, wherever it'll be, so bye."

He was gone. Ziri had not left them in a blur-run, no. He had simply jogged away and vanished into the crowd. No, he hadn't vanished; in seconds, he could no longer be seen, although Hannah managed to see him. True to what he said, he stayed away from the crowd- He simply blended in. This was a nifty ability of his that he had developed for when he needed to blend in even though he was a pariah. He had instantly managed to see the general gait and nature of the crowd, and then mimicked it exactly to become a background fixture.

Alex said, huffily, "I'm going to keep a tab on him… Even though I have no clue where he's going," she added. And then too, she left them, only this time, she was much more obvious.

"I'll be going after the two of them," Gale sighed, "Because I need to find the gym as well."

When he left, Hannah was left with one objective; find the Contest Hall.

* * *

Ziri easily found the gym by doing the most unorthodox orthodox method used by gung-ho trainers.

He read the signs.

In no time, the gym, a massive building with a girth and size of a city block, stood in front of him. There was no question that this was the gym- It even said so, nicely, on the front, **Violet City Gym, Falkner, Gym Leader. **

"Lovely," Ziri grumbled. "I take back whatever I said about Mr. Pokemon's sign… This sign takes the cake."

With that, backpack over his shoulder, he went up to the door, and opened to find an ongoing battle in a _massive_ battlefield, larger than anything that he had ever seen before. Feeling awed, he looked further.

There they were on the opposite end of the field; one trainer, a kid with a cap, was busy controlling an Onyx dealing with a Pidgeotto. On the other side of the field, a calm guy, maybe seventeen or eighteen (He knew for sure that he wasn't much older than him) was calmly calling out commands.

"Now, Pidgeotto! Gust!"

An odd counter to a Rock Throw, but as Ziri could see it was effective. The rocks, thrown upwards, stopped dead in midair and dropped with a puff of dirt onto the battlefield. "Fine!" was the response to that particular maneuver. "Rocky, use Tackle!"

The Onyx roared and suddenly pulsed forward rapidly along the ground, startlingly fast for something that heavy. However…

"Pidgeotto, dodge to the side and use Mud Slap!"

The bird with eye-catching plumage quickly spun to the side, and then, when the Onyx had stopped, blasted a spray of wet mud at the Onyx's face. The Onyx roared in pain both from the super-effective nature of the attack, and the fact that the mud went dead in the eyes. So when the dust had settled from its thrashing, Ziri saw that the eyes were covered in caked mud.

It was blind.

"No, Rocky!" the trainer shouted in horror. But it was too late; now, the guy with the violet hair shouted "Keep using Gust until it faints!"

It was a long process, but in the space of three minutes, the Onyx stopped moving, battered to pieces.

"Onyx is unable to battle," the referee called. "The winner is Pidgeotto!"

"Fine," the trainer said, frustrated as he returned his fainted Onyx. "I breezed past your other Pokemon but not this one? Then eat this!" Throwing in a fresh Pokemon, he revealed…

A Magnemite.

"What'll you do against this?" the trainer said, smirking.

"Pidgeotto, return."

By this time, Alex and Gale had caught up to him. "Finally!" Alex gasped, having been buffeted around by the crowds. "Will you stop running around-?"

She was silenced by Ziri jabbing a finger at the door. Gale and Alex curiously looked in, along with Ziri, to see the ongoing battle inside.

"Which one's the Gym Leader?" Gale hissed.

"I think it's the one who's-"

"Go! Fearow!"

"Yeah, that one…"

"What difference does it make!?" the trainer laughed. "Magnemite, use-"

"Aerial Ace!"

The Fearow suddenly moved so fast that the Magnemite had no chance to respond to the lightning-fast blow. But, as the three outside could see, it had done little to actually hurt the Magnemite.

"Hah!" the owner of the Magnemite sneered. "How do you like that!? Magnemite's a Steel and Electric type! Flying-type moves are useless-!"

"Fearow, use Fury Attack! Aim for the eye!"

The gigantic bird squawked and immediately began jabbing the Magnet Pokemon repeatedly. Again and again, the floating piece of metal buzzed in panic as his trainer confidently laughed at this supposedly useless move-

When the Magnemite suddenly dropped, its lone eye going in spirals. "Now, Fearow!" the owner shouted, this time the one laughing. "Drill Peck!"

Suddenly rearing its head backwards, it then spin in an axial fashion, and dived. Ziri winced as the sound of shrieking metal filled the arena as the Magnemite was driven through the sand. One look at the fallen sphere, and the referee called, "Magnemite is unable to battle. This battle goes to Gym Leader Falkner of Violet City!"

"Ah."

Ziri immediately left, much to the consternation of his two companions. Before they could get to him, however, a crush of people came, as if by design, between the two and Ziri- By the time the _massive _line of people had passed, Ziri was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Although Ziri was a master of blending in, his mind was preoccupied- Therefore, people noticed him.

Mainly the girls, given that he was, after all, "adorable" (As one was overheard saying). Some of the faint-hearted ones swooned as he walked by, and the more flirtatious ones actually approached him- But they were left in the dust. In times like these, where his mind was in overdrive, his legs were in overdrive as well. Oblivious to the envious stares of the men as he walked his way through town…

That's when he proceeded to crash into someone.

Knocked out of the trance he was in, he looked down, to discover he was still standing; but the kid that he had crashed into was not. "Owww!!" the kid whined, picking himself up, being helped by his-

"What the hell is _that_?"

The words were out of Ziri's mouth before he knew it, referring to the odd, cylindrical Pokemon that the kid was accompanied by. Whipping out his Pokedex, it chimed "**Beldum, the Iron Ball Pokemon. Beldum keeps itself floating by generating a magnetic force that repels earth's natural magnetism. When it sleeps, this Pokémon anchors itself to a cliff using the hooks on its rear.**"

The Beldum, who was colored rather oddly in a gray instead of the blue as featured on the Pokedex, glared at him with its lone eye, apparently miffed by being referred to as "that." The boy instantly went from whiney mode into anger mode. "Hey!" he said angrily. "Don't insult my best friend, you-"

"And I was supposed to know that because you keep this hunk of metal outside twenty-four-seven? Puh-leeze."

His face colored. "Watch it-"

Ziri was _not _in the mood for small talk, so he simply brushed right by.

"Hey wait-"

The boy whirled around, but suddenly he could no longer see his senior anywhere. Blinking, he turned to Ragnarok. "You see him anywhere?" he asked, praying his Beldum's lone eye would suffice.

However, his hopes were dashed as, using its claw as an axis, with shifted its head twice, to the side.

The boy turned back to where he had last seen Ziri leave. "How did he…?"

* * *

Ziri had simply read the crowd and become a bystander in the background; anything to get away from the annoying kid. He forced the thoughts of panic that associated themselves with his upcoming gym battle, and gulped. What could he do against that Fearow, or whatever else that might pop up?

He somehow wandered into the park, and finding the first bench he sat down, putting his head in his hands. He was, officially and truly, screwed.

* * *

Hannah was walking back to the park after checking out the Contest Hall, when she saw Ziri looking rather depressed.

She had caused her own stir going back to the designated meeting point. After all, it could have been said while Ziri had the sex appeal in for the girls, Hannah was for the men; and in all technicalities she was the more open one, considering her style of dress. For now though, ignoring the wolf-whistling and the ridiculous reactions (A.K.A. nosebleeds), she walked over and sat by Ziri. "Hey," she said simply.

He looked up at her. "Help me," he said, and his voice was tinted by desperation.

She stared at him in surprise. "Why? I'm not-"

"I'm going to be so screwed unless I somehow find my way through Falkner, the Gym Leader. I've seen him and the way I am now is nothing compared to him. I am. So. Freakin'. Screwed."

She sighed. "I haven't seen him, so I really can't do anything… But…"

She wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and to her relief it wasn't automatically rejected. It also had the side effect of scattering the crowd that gathered around them, while they muttered darkly about how it sucked that the hottest girl in town was with the hottest boy in town.

"Didn't they say to believe in yourself, or that childish stuff? I mean, I'm not that good at battles-"

"You have to battle in contests, don't you?"

"Well-" she broke off, sighing. "You've got a point there… But someone just has to stay away from the opponent for five minutes to win, and you actually don't have to do a single hit on whoever you're facing."

"Would be nice," Ziri mumbled, "If I could do a thirty second knockout."

She stared at him, shocked. "That defeats the whole purpose!"

"I know, but from what I heard, on TV and stuff, that you either beat the living crap out of them or you stall for time." And he put his head in his hands again. "I can only do the first option, since there's no time limit. But even that looks impossible right now. I have three unevolved Pokemon, including one that just hatched."

"So? They've won all their battles for you, you know."

"Duh, but this guy uses evolved forms. They're bigger, stronger, and they're just plain better-"

Cyndaquil and Aipom popped out, along with Togepi (I'd picked up a Pokeball along the way to Violet for it). They immediately began squealing ("CyndaquilCyndaCynda!"), chattering ("AiAiAipom!"), and chirping ("Togeppiiii!!").

Ziri stared at them. "What're you guys doing?"

He listened, while Hannah looked at all of them.

"You mean… You don't want me to evolve you guys?"

They nodded.

"But-"

They quickly raised an outburst.

"Then how am I gonna beat him?"

Immediately, they broke off and looked at Hannah.

Following their gaze, he looked at her and back at his Pokemon. "Do you want me to…"

Then, understanding hit him. "You want me to do what she-"

They all shouted their agreement.

And proceeded to mob him, sending him backwards into the frame of the bench. "Garg!" he yelled. "Stop- Ack- Gurk-"

Hannah shook her head, amused. "You're Pokemon are violently devoted, you know." She said this with no trace of hostility towards their owner, despite the rather odd place he had landed yesterday and the following knockouts this morning and yesterday.

"Tell me about it," Ziri grumbled as he returned them to their Pokeballs. "They burn me, strangle me, and with Togepi, it'll do something odd to me. Shock me, poison me, burn me, make my world a painful place…"

He sighed and turned to her eyes. "Thanks, though."

She opened her mouth to say "You're welcome," and she did- Well, the first two syllables, since suddenly she realized he wasn't looking at her anymore- Rather, a spot over her left shoulder.

"_Madre de dios,_" he said softly.

She turned, and she realized, with a cold jolt, that it was _him_.

The capped boy, whose dead red eyes had created a tear in the crowd as he walked, stopped in front of them. "You."

Ziri stood up as well, and walked behind Hannah in front of him. "You," he repeated in front of him.

"How's the walk to Violet City been?" he asked derisively. "Oh, and I see you've got a girlfriend as well-"

Hannah made a motion to jump up and start punching him into oblivion, but Ziri's arm rested on her shoulder stopping her. The message was clear- _I'll deal with him_.

"It was awesome," Ziri said conversationally. "Oh, and how does it feel _not _to have a hot chick with you?"

"Would I want to have her with me?" he said dismissively. "Why would I want to be stuck with a swine like-"

Again, she made a motion to stand up, but Ziri's arm kept her down.

"You're one to talk, scum," he said, relishing in the fact that the eyes seemed to darker slightly, "in addition to your other adjectives: Thief, abuser, general idiot, the list goes on and on…"

"Prove it."

"You prove it yourself, scum."

"I can very well crush you, where I am right now in a battle. And you know it-"

"Really? Put your money where your mouth is, then. One on one, we use the first Pokemon we ever got."

Hannah could not help stifling a gasp at this point. Ziri was deliberately provoking him into a duel where he, Ziri, was going to be handicapped!

She knew that his opponent knew this as well, for he could not help but hear the smug tone in his voice. "Try it. Here?"

"Why not?"

Hannah finally succeeded in jumping up. "Ziri," she said urgently, "Stop this. You're going to-!"

"I won't. I'll deal with it." And he stepped away.

The two teens, one with a cap on and the other with his sandy-brown hair waving in the wind stared at each other, both glowering with spite at each other. As if on signal, both then grabbed a red-and-white sphere from their belts and hurled them skywards, one yelling, "Cyndaquil, Flame On!" and the other yelling "Totodile, crush him!"

The two starters of Johto appeared, unaware that the third had popped out to watch the battle. Flora nervously watched as its labmates squared off against each other, neither showing any sign that they recognized each other.

Flora alone did. And that made her scared. Well, Ziri was also slightly scared, but if only because he now hated Totodiles.

The boy with the cap wasted no time in ordering an attack. "Water Gun!" he called, attempting to easily end the match.

Not if Ziri could help it. "Dodge and use Swift!"

The stream of water missed, but the swarm of yellow stars did not. The Big Jaw Pokemon was sent reeling from the blow, and the coldness of the Totodile's owner seemed to crack slightly in anger. "Get up. And use Rage."

* * *

Earlier Ziri had crashed into someone. That is, a kid with a shiny (In this case, gray) Beldum. Now he was struggling his way through the crowd that had gathered, the Beldum named Ragnarok hooking itself onto his shoulder. Jumping up and down in his attempts to see- Pathetic. Trying to force his way through the crowd- Slow, but much better than jumping when you were slightly under five feet.

* * *

Alex and Gale had given up trying to find Ziri and were returning to the park when they witnessed the crowd gathering as well from the other side where the boy with the Beldum was. Gale looked over, and he blinked before turning to Alex. "That idiot, now he's dealing with a guy with a Totodile-"

Alex's eyes widened. "Wait, does he have a cap on? The owner of the Totodile, I mean."

Gale's eyebrows became furrowed in confusion about how Alex had known, but he nodded confirmation.

Alex paled.

* * *

The Totodile charged, turning red in the process. Ziri raised an eyebrow, before shouting "Knock it back with Ember!"

The fireballs flew and struck the now-oddly colored Totodile, who yelped in pain- But then looked up, glaring, and Ziri was shocked to realize that the Totodile was now going even faster than ever. "Wha-"

He didn't get to finish, since the Totodile crashed into Cyndaquil with greater speed than before, knocking it over. "Cyndaquil! If you can, get it away with Swift!"

* * *

The boy with the Beldum froze, realizing that the one who had yelled that order, laced with concern yet resolve, was the one who had slammed into him earlier. Renewing his attempts to get through- He finally succeeded, if only crawling under someone's legs…

* * *

The stars flew, and like yesterday they hit dead on, sending it flying. When it landed, Ziri took another chance like yesterday and shouted "Tackle!"

The Totodile was thrown further away, much to the outrage of his owner. "Attack with Rage! NOW!"

Ziri groaned at the tone, but shouted "Keep away with Quick Attack!"

As the Totodile charged, Cyndaquil simply kept away with speed, evading the crazed mini-crocodile with every lunge matched with every dodge. Angered, the boy again yelled "Water Gun!"

This is what Ziri had been waiting for. Knowing full well that if he had attacked during Rage then it would have made it worse in the end. As the red faded from the skin, Ziri shouted "Ember! Aim for the mouth!"

In the many bursts of flame some found their mark, and the Totodile now hopped around, howling in pain from the roasted tongue. Now, with victory at hand, Ziri shouted "Swift!"

The stars crashed into the blue Pokemon, and it lay on the grass, twitching.

"Totodile, get up."

It did not stir.

"I said, get up."

It opened one eye this time, and began to struggle.

The boy gave a cold laugh. "Is this all you can do? Get up. Now."

At this point, the boy with the Beldum burst out, "Shut up! Can't you see it's heavily injured-?"

"I can do whatever I want with my Pokemon," the one with the cap said, gloweringly, "now shut up! With hair like yours-"

Realizing the obvious reference to his hair, long, flowing, and girl-like, his face flushed. Balling his fists, he made to run at him-

"This isn't your fight."

He stopped, confused at the calm tone, and realized the same person who had bashed into him was now staring intently at the downed, struggling Totodile. "Wha-?"

"This isn't you fight. I want to kick the crap out of him right now too, but wait until this is over, okay?"

Hannah didn't know what was more frightening at this point- The bubbling rage of the boy on the opposite end of the battlefield who stared down on the fallen form of his Pokemon, or the calm tone of Ziri's voice.

That very same tone made Alex and Gale shiver, but they kept silent, waiting for the eventuality of the Totodile fainting.

It didn't.

The next moment, the Totodile started to glow, and now slowly it was standing up, much to the shock of everybody present. Ziri was staring at it, and slowly brought up the Pokedex to bear.

"**Torrent,**" the Pokedex chimed, quite unaware of the nature of the gradually deteriorating mood of the battle, "**an ability of water-type Pokemon that boosts their power when at critical levels of health.**"

_Uh oh. _

That's when the Totodile's eyes opened, and he saw glowing blue eyes with no pupils.

"What I was looking for," its owner whispered. "Exactly what I was looking for."

"Water Gun."

The Totodile opened its mouth.

And out came a stream of water so massive and so fast that Ziri never even had a chance to open his own mouth before it struck.

* * *

**I am in SUCH a mood for cliffies right now. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, Rocky, the poor Onyx earlier, is actually named after a Pokemon that you can get via a trade in Violet City right before you deal with Falkner in the original Generation II games. Yes, that Pokemon is an Onyx. **

**Don't forget to review!!**


	9. A Torrential Blaze

**YESSSSSS! I PUSHED IT ABOVE 6000 WORDS!!! **

**Thank's to all who reviewed last chapter... Only four people??? Man, those guys deserve a million bucks each. And again... **

**PEOPLE FAVORITE THIS STORY BUT FORGET TO REVIEW? WTF???**

**Man seriously... Oh well, I don't own Pokemon. There. I said it.**

**Happy Reading!**

* * *

The Water Gun struck so fast and so hard that Cyndaquil was thrown some fifteen feet away.

"Cyndaquil!" Ziri yelled in panic as it finally stopped rolling around. Giving a weak squeal of acknowledgement, it began picking itself up.

Not that Ziri's opponent would let that happen. "Scratch."

The glowing, now immensely powerful Totodile bounded forward far faster than usual to deliver a far stronger than usual Scratch that sent its foe staggering backwards.

"Cyndaquil!" Ziri shouted again, this time in horror as it fell over, whimpering from the pain. "Okay," he growled through gritted teeth, "I'm going to have to do something unorthodox here…"

He whipped out the Pokeblock case and popped Cyndaquil's favorite flavor into the air.

Immediately, the long nose of the Fire Mouse Pokemon wiggled, and it snapped out its head to snag the snack. Immediately, the flames reignited on its back, and it stood up.

The crowd "ohhhhed" with appreciation at this kind of action by a caring trainer, and the Beldum-accompanied boy almost burst his eyeballs at this.

Kindness and concern were the only possible reasons for this kind of ridiculous but somehow effective action. He shook his head in admiration; who was this guy?

In Ziri's mind, things were the farthest from rosy that he had ever encountered. Torrent had given the Totodile and incredible boost in both strength and speed- Which meant that standing still was the dumbest thing alive in this kind of sticky situation.

One thing to do in this situation- And lucky his Cyndaquil knew it. "We can win this!" he called encouragingly. "Quick Attack!"

The boy chuckled. "Do you honestly think-?"

He was cut off by the sound of air blasting out of a Totodile's jaws as Cyndaquil smashed into it at high speed and then retreated. "Get up, you useless hunk of flesh," he snarled. "Water Gun that thing to hell! Now!"

"Keep up the Quick Attack! Smokescreen!"

The blast of smoke was enough to blind the Totodile, making the stream of concentrated water, fast as it was, miss by a mile. Again the small body of the Cyndaquil crashed into the Big Jaw Pokemon, sending it reeling towards the front this time from the behind-the-back impact.

_He's barely holding his own, _Hannah thought, elated and terrified at the same time. Ziri looked like he had become a literal wire, with all his limbs tensed; likewise, the entire crowd drew collective breaths with each near miss of the now overpowered Water Gun, but raised short, but collective cheers for every glancing blow the Cyndaquil landed.

A minute like this passed, with the tension steadily growing until…

Finally the Totodile's owner had lost his cool. "I SAID HIT IT, NOT GET THROWN AROUND BY IT!" came the roar of fury. "HIT IT- I SAID HIT IT! IF YOU CAN'T DO THAT, THEN-"

Ziri cut him off by an even louder roar. "SHUT UP, GODDAMMIT! IT'S NOT HIS FAULT!"

Then, Ziri saw it. Feeling high on the previous emotions of success, Cyndaquil had signed his own death warrant.

He went dead into the path of a Water Gun.

The boy with the Beldum visibly flinched as the small echidna was thrown through the air. When it landed fifteen feet away, there was no question whether it was getting back up or not. He knew that Ziri knew it as well; everyone heard the horror in his voice as he saw his partner, his best friend fly through the air, soaked in liquid.

It wasn't even moving.

Until…

* * *

_Why?_

_I swore to never fail him again. _

_But look at me now; my arrogance has cost him this battle, because I was too stupid to be on my guard. Why? _

_I attacked him out of my own selfish fury, yet I was forgiven. I swore only hours ago I would never fail him again, this gentle soul, so open, yet so mistreated for being so. Why?_

_Why?_

_I…_

_I will…_

_I said I will not…_

_I SAID I WILL NOT FAIL!_

* * *

Only three seconds later, something comparable to an explosion blasted through the air. Half of Violet City heard it, and the entire crowd was thrown back along with the two trainers locked in battle. Ziri felt the wind blast over him as he landed on the grass; he knew it had to be Cyndaquil. But…

What could possibly-?

Slowly, staggering to his feet, Ziri looked up, and he almost fainted out of surprise.

The previously snuffed out flames on Cyndaquil's back were now some ten times their normal size. The flames usually extended about a foot off its back; now, it was extending some ten feet skywards, where it flicked, the air shimmering to the point where it was impossible to see the slowly coloring sky.

And with that, as if to complement it, the Fire Mouse Pokemon was covered in a reddish aura, as if in direct opposition to the aura of the Totodile. All the grass around Cyndaquil was completely black, in a crater-like pattern; it wouldn't be hard to say that a meteor _had _landed there, but the thing was there was no impact crater.

Just one, incredibly violent fire-type Pokemon.

Ziri, slowly, brought up his trembling hands to look up this… _Phenomenon _on his Pokedex.

"**Blaze**," it chimed, "**an ability of fire-type Pokemon. In dire straights, internal combustion is accelerated in its body, substantially boosting performance and power**."

Ziri looked up, and put the Pokedex away. He had no need for it anymore, as of this battle.

"Cyndaquil," he said quietly, "Let's do this."

"Ember."

The flames that were launched did not double in size.

Oh, no. Rather, they quintupled in size, and doubled in speed. In addition, they were blasted out perhaps twice as fast and with twice the volume. And, when they hit, there was a _very _nasty side effect. Though the Totodile leaped out of the way, the flames that hit…

Exploded.

The barrage mercilessly rained down, causing an incredible chain of explosions that sent smoke plumes skywards.

When the air cleared, the Totodile staggered to its feet, the aura around it flickering, and his soot-covered owner standing there, stunned.

Nobody in the crowd had any idea the Cyndaquil could become this ridiculously powerful in desperation, but what everyone saw was the Cyndaquil falling onto its knees, the red aura also fading, and the flames beginning to lower.

_I've got to finish this now. _Those thoughts were in both trainers' heads as they stared at each other's eyes, steel gray versus blood red.

"Ember!"

"Water Gun!"

The respective auras flared back to their previous strengths, Cyndaquil's flame reached its previous, maximum level, and Totodile's eyes became completely blue yet again.

An open jaw. A repressed, intensifying flame. And then, a storm of fiery bolts versus a huge stream of liquid water.

The two vastly different projectile assaults met that the center of their battlefield, and instantly, fire was repressed by water- Yet, the sheer heat of the fiery bolts quickly and efficiently evaporated the liquid. They cycle continued- The stream of flames versus the stream of water.

Ziri instantly knew what he had to do, since there was little time left to sustain the deadlock any longer. His orders were masked by the roar of the flames and the steamy haze that now covered the battlefield.

"Quick Attack from the side!"

Immediately, thanks in part to the boost of Blaze, the Fire Mouse Pokemon vanished, both stopping the deadlock and causing the flood of water to strike the spot where it had been previously. But not that it mattered; the target was no longer there.

Instead, the red, yellow, orange, and blackish-blue colored blur slammed with devastating force against the Totodile's side. And then it was gone.

A wind blew through the city, clearing the air of the mist- And revealing to Ziri that his last-ditch attempt to end the battle had well and truly worked.

The Totodile was perfectly unconscious, his Cyndaquil was standing in front of him, after the lightning-fast blow and the just-as-fast retreat, and that park was well and truly ruined. Oh well. If he had been battling in a gym, then that wouldn't have been a problem.

Ziri and Hannah suddenly had simultaneous visions of what had happened in Cherrygrove City. So, Ziri bent down and picked up a rock. This one was a small, two-pound rock that he knew would be more than effective in smashing against someone's skull; instant lights out.

As expect, the boy began stepping forward. "You are _useless_!" he yelled, to the shock of the onlookers. "I trained you to _win_, you piece of garbage! _Why aren't you winning? WHY? TELL ME NOW!_"

He raised his right leg above the unmoving body of his Pokemon, and Ziri acted.

The gray, circular piece of stone was nothing more than a blur before it smashed into the capped boy's head. He jerked as it hit, but there was no sound of fracture. If it had been a pound more, then it would have been way too dangerous to throw.

But at two pounds, there was no danger whatsoever. The victim had a bemused look on his face when he fell backwards, as in, _what the heck just hit me_?

His cap fell off, to reveal a collection of green strands, which made Ziri wonder if he did drugs, dyed his hair, or just had it naturally. He supposed that he had dyed it, but with these things you never knew.

The stands were also wet, stained a dark red from the point of impact.

So he walked across the grass, carefully skirting around the Totodile, and found the previously mentioned mini-crocodile's Pokeball, lying in the grass. Turning around, he smacked the button on the middle, watching the animal become nothing more than energy as it was sucked within the recesses of the sphere.

The crowd murmured at this strange act of kindness as Ziri walked back over to his own, heavily breathing Pokemon. "You okay?" he said softly as he gently picked it up and cradled it within his arms.

The response was a contented squeal of "Cynda!" as it happily- But weakly- wriggled around.

"Take a rest," he sighed, and returned it to Ziri's own Pokeball. Standing up, he looked around and groaned at the destruction that the battle had caused. The crater where Blaze had activated, the scorched patches where missed Ember fireballs had struck, and the bare spot where the explosive barrage had struck. The ripped patches where Water Gun had razed the ground.

Destruction was such a fickle beast.

The crowd, sensing that there were to be no other spectacles to be seen, slowly dispersed, muttering both about the unneeded destruction- And the incredible duel where one side had deliberately handicapped itself but still won. The town was not inhabited by idiots- They knew exactly what to expect of a clash between fire and water types. Yet, the former had still won…

Ziri felt someone tapping on his shoulder, and turned around to find the same kid who had tried to charge out during the match. "Uh," the boy said, quietly, "Who are you?"

Ziri blinked. "Didn't I run you over a while ago?"

The kid's face colored. "Hey! You still haven't apologized-"

"Did I need to?"

The boy stared at him, stunned. "Well- Duh! You don't just run over people and then run away-"

"I thought that you were just one person in a million others that I'd encounter and then forget, okay?"

The Beldum floated up besides me, and Ziri stared at it. "What, you cylindrical hunk of metal?"

"Hey!" the boy said angrily, "Don't insult Rag-"

Ziri looked at him, eyebrows raised. "You named him a _rag_?"

"Ziri," Alex snapped, as she walked up, "Stop annoying him and answer the question already! We know it's your talent, but-"

He gave her the mother of all death glares, and she froze, mid-sentence. "Can you _please_ see I'm in a bad mood?" Not to mention that the panic with Falkner was returning…

Hannah smacked him on the back of the head, causing him to flinch and cower. "Oww!!" he whined. "The heck was that for-?"

"Just answer the question, or-" she raised her fist threateningly.

Ziri sighed melodramatically. "If you insist. But…"

His arm moved so fast that for one second she thought they were invisible. In the course of a half-second the hand, curling into a fist, bashed three points on her arm- The elbow, the wrist, and finally the bicep. The first hit made her jerk the fist out of shape, the second caused paralysis of the hand, and the third hit completely numbed her arm.

She blinked, and then realized with horror she could no longer feel a single thing on her right arm. "What- What did you-"

"Three pressure points. That's all it takes to paralyze someone's arm for the next ten minutes."

"Now," Ziri said, businesslike and as if he had not known the stir that he had just caused, "Tell me yours first, because like I said, I'm in a hell of a bad mood right now. I didn't get high from the fact I kicked the crap out of him," he said, indicating the still unconscious form of his opponent, "and I'm still in a panic with Falkner. So. Talk."

The boy glared at him, if only to mask the feeling that he was talking to someone fifteen times more dangerous than he looked, before he spoke.

"My name is Varacei Alger. But… I like being called Urya-"

Ziri raised an eyebrow. "And Urya has what to do with your name-?"

He was silenced by a set of glares from Alex and Hannah, while Gale said in a slightly offhand manner, "It doesn't matter at all what nicknames have to do with your real first names, obviously…"

Ziri groaned. "Why am I being ganged up on here?" he whined.

Alex sighed. "You're annoying-"

"You deserve to be slapped for half the things you say and do-"

"You, technically, are better than anybody here at actually battling-"

"And you pay more attention to Pokemon than humans," Urya finished.

Silence, as Ziri sighed. "Fine, dammit, you guys win. My own name is, as if we could possibly return to the original subject, Zirienji Axlhedron, a.k.a. Ziri. Thank you. Now where's the Pokemon Center?"

He was off running before they realized he had finished answering the original question.

* * *

The next morning, Ziri woke up, and blinked twice at the ceiling before he remembered where exactly he was. He had, after all, slept outside for the last three days, and waking up underneath a solid ceiling without the slowly lightening sky made him feel dizzy.

For three seconds. Now he hopped out of bed, slipped his shirt on, and carefully tiptoed out of the room, past the sleeping forms of Hannah, Alex, Gale, and on the floor, Urya. He was whining about the fact that he had gone for a complete day and a half without food, so reluctantly (On Ziri's part) they let him stay.

Ziri's sneaker connected with something metallic, and he instantly looked down, to spot the sleeping Iron Ball Pokemon. That crazy Beldum Ragnarok.

Realizing it might wake up, Ziri stood completely still, until he was sure that it had not woken up. Then, sighing in relief, he opened the door-

"Where you going?" came the yawning voice.

Ziri instantly spun around, ready to knock someone out if he had to, but he realized it was only Urya, slowly rubbing his eyes. After all, it was six in the morning, Ziri's waking time.

"Out," he said casually, as if waking up at six in the morning was the most common thing in the world.

"What time is it?"

"Around six."

"_What_?" Now Urya was shoving himself to his feet. "Why are you-"

"I wake up at this time," Ziri said, and turned. "Get back to sleep-"

"Nah" Urya spoke brightly, but in a hushed voice as not to disturb the sleeping figures beside him. "I wake up early as well, but I wake up at seven… I've never seen anyone wake up at _six-_"

Ziri turned back, snorting. "Why would you? You'd just be in a rut the rest of the day."

"But…" Urya motioned Ziri to move out, which the older boy did, slightly confused. Quickly picking up the unusually colored Beldum, he then walked into the dimly lit hallway. "Where're you going-?"

"To get my Pokemon back," Ziri said. "The main reason I wake up right now is to get warm up for the day, with my Pokemon. You just wake up at seven, because…?"

"I just do." And with that, Ziri was now unwillingly followed by a bubbly kid that was perhaps a fourth of Ziri's size shorter.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, after swiping his Pokeballs, Ziri and Urya headed north, where they found, to their surprise, a training field surrounded by a chain-link fence.

"Perfect," Ziri muttered as he let everyone out of their Pokeballs. Urya watched curiously at the three Pokemon frolicked around their owner, before asking "Do they usually-"

"Yep. It's the affection they have for me, I guess."

_You __**guess**__? _Urya thought incredulously. _It's so obviously __**true**__._

As if sensing his thoughts, Ziri looked up. "I just pamper them, I guess," and with that, he jumped the fence, and opened the door (Urya was slightly nonplussed at this display of athleticism and also had rather weak muscles. Besides, his own Pokemon couldn't climb the fence, so he had to do it himself).

Walking around allowed Ziri to get a full feel of battling inside, given that from his memory this field was just as massive as the one within the Gym.

The outdoor scene, however, gave it a slightly expansive feel that the teen knew would not be there within a building. So, he walked over to one end, while Urya, as per request, went to the other end, slightly confused. "What're we here for?" Urya called, since the field was so massive.

"This is my warm up, genius! Besides, I'm challenging the gym either today or tomorrow, so I need as much experience as I can get!" was the response. "You're not scared of fighting anyone are you-?"

"Hey!" Urya shouted indignantly. "I want the badge, too!"

"Seriously? Then fight for it! Aipom, you're up!" From his place on the other side of the practice battlefield, he saw the movement of a spot of purple.

"Okay," Urya called, "Yuki, let's go-! Aw, c'mon…"

The Eevee gave him a nasty look before stalking off. Urya looked at her hopelessly as he heard Ziri roaring with laughter at the sight of Urya getting ditched. "Okay," he grumbled, "bad move. Go, Jackson!"

The Porygon popped out in a flash, looking like a strangely angular duck with a solid beak, and began to spin around in full circle, examining the entire area. Then, it began flipping over- and over- and over.

Ziri laughed even harder.

"Sh-shut up!" Urya shouted. "Try this! Porygon, Psybeam!"

Immediately turning towards the Aipom, Jackson threw his beak back-

"Fake Out!"

Going impossibly fast, the Aipom quickly jumped up and lightly whacked the Porygon's head. Jackson squawked as it recoiled, expecting a harsher blow, but-

"Tickle!"

Now the Aipom was rapidly dragging its forelimbs and tails over the surface of the Porygon, and with mild horror but more a sense of incredulity he watched as the Porygon screeched in what was undoubtedly laughter. It was a funny thing coming from a Porygon…

"Now! Doubleslap and Fury Swipes, all at once!"

Instantly the merciless tickling stopped, and as the Porygon regained its senses the tail and the two forelimbs of the Aipom began to slap and scratch in wild abandon. The Porygon screeched in panic, unbearable comfort turning to unbearable pain the next second.

"Jackson, snap out of it! Get back and use Psybeam!"

The Porygon struggled and struggled to get out of the storm of blows, and finally succeeded if only on a fluke by kicking upwards with one of its legs. The blow caught Aipom dead on the chin, and as it fell backwards, bemused, the Porygon threw its head back, and then sent it forward in a stabbing motion, sending forth a multi-colored beam.

The beam struck dead on, and Aipom was thrown backwards, bouncing on the sand. "C'mon, Aipom!" Ziri shouted encouragingly. "Don't let yourself get tossed around! Use Tail Whip!"

At the next moment, in getting up, Aipom's tail suddenly began waving in a curious fashion, prompting the angry Jackson to stop what he was doing and follow the tail's progress with wide-eyed interest.

"Jackson, c'mon!" Urya groaned; but there was no snapping the Virtual Pokemon out of it.

"Now! Another Doubleslap-!"

Again, Aipom charged, but in the process it was forced to let down its tail. Taking advantage of this, Urya shouted "Jackson, use Tackle!"

The Porygon charged forward, resulting in Aipom getting thrown back. "Follow up Psy-"

"Another Fake Out!"

Again, the sudden forward motion caused the Porygon to lose focus yet again, making it screech in panic as the flung its head away to protect it. Encouraged by this success, Ziri called "Fury Swipes!"

Continuing the forward motion, Aipom began to wildly swing its arms, resulting in much yowling from its opponent. "Jackson, Tackle!" Urya shouted, hoping that it would work.

"Use your tail to jump over it!"

Using its tail, it suddenly springboarded over the Porygon, much to its surprise. "Now! Use-"

"Jackson, now! Psybeam!"

The Porygon turned right around, and instantly the beam was forming on its "beak." "Aipom, move!" Ziri called out in panic, as the beam solidified and flew-

When, from the other side of the field he saw the Aipom's tail glowing. Now, as he watched, the hand suddenly made a throwing motion, and as if they had been there all along, a thick rain of yellow stars flew-

The collision between the multi-colored beam and the storm of yellow stars literally blew up the battlefield. As Aipom scampered away, cheeky smile in place, the Porygon, as Ziri now saw, was reeling from the force of the explosion. Ziri blinked, before he suddenly realized that he finally had a way to hit people from far, far away.

"Aipom, Swift!"

Again, the storm of stars flew, and the Porygon had no resistance when each and every star struck, one by one. It jerked rapidly, and began spinning around, in obvious destabilization.

"Jackson, return!"

And so, the Porygon fled back into its Pokeball, in relative safety.

"How do you like _that_?" Ziri called triumphantly, pretty much dancing in glee along with his happily jumping Aipom.

Urya glowered. "Don't think you've won, when I've got _this_! C'mon, Ragnarok!"

Ziri raised an eyebrow. "Really. A hunk of metal. Oh well… This isn't your fight," he told Aipom. The grin dropped for a second before it scampered off behind Ziri. "And thankfully it's not very scared today…" he muttered under his breath, referring to its timid nature.

"Cyndaquil, Flame On!"

The Fire Mouse Pokemon scampered up, its back blazing as it looked over on the other side of the field. The Beldum, colored gray, drew back, apparently remembering the… _blazing_ incident from yesterday- It had no intention of going up against something like that.

"Oh, c'mon," Ziri called, rolling his eyes, "This won't hurt you… Too badly," he added under his breath, as the Beldum perked up at this. It rose up, facing its fire-type opponent, and Urya shouted "Take Down!"

Quickly, the piece of floating metal reared backwards and blasted forward, at such a reckless speed that Ziri was sure it would hurt itself along with whoever got hit. He, however, was not letting that happen. "Dive to the side and use Ember!" he called.

Quickly Cyndaquil threw itself sideways as the Iron Ball Pokemon whizzed by- And then proceeded to rain upon it a steady barrage of small fireballs from its back. As the Beldum angrily buzzed, Ziri shouted "Swift!"

The stars smacked against the metal shell of Ragnarok, but it shook itself off with ease. Ziri suddenly was reminded of its type being Steel as well as Psychic, and groaned- Of _course _it wouldn't have much effect!

"Take Down!"

Again, the Beldum flew forward. This time, Ziri shouted "Jump up!"

The maneuver caused the reckless charge to miss- Again. "Ember!" Ziri called, realizing that it was his only move that would possibly cause serious damage to his opponent.

It most certainly worked- The out shell of Ragnarok was now heavily burned back, as it glared at Cyndaquil with its lone eye. "Darn! Ragnarok, another-"

"Wait a sec!" Ziri yelled. "Why the heck are you only calling Take Downs?"

Urya, even from the other side of the battlefield, looked rather abashed. "Uh, well…" he called back shakily, "It's the only attack it knows…"

"_What_?"

"S-seriously…"

Ziri sighed. "Fine," he called, "I'll just have to go at you with no mercy, then. Ember again-"

"Take Down!"

And so the Beldum charged into the storm of flames...

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Falkner was walking towards the very same training field where Ziri and Urya had decided to do an early morning warm up- Where they, in jumping the fence, had failed to notice the words "reserved."

Now, being the Gym Leader, Falkner was accompanied by his troupe of trainers who were all studying under him. So, while some of them pestered him on the finer arts of battling as the mob walked to the field, a few chose to run forward and try to curry favor- In this case, five of them decided to secure the fields for him.

And they did not like what they saw.

Their mouths gaped as they witnessed two forms rolling around, obviously wrestling with each other- But why the heck were they laughing? In any case…

"The field's been invaded," one said, both pointing out the obvious and saying it in an unnecessarily urgent tone, "we've gotta tell Falkner!"

The rest nodded stupidly, before they ran back where they came from.

* * *

Ziri was busy wrestling Varacei to the ground in an attempt to secure the poor kid without _seriously _hurting him- But to no avail, since Urya was rather strong for a kid his size. Still, Ziri was bigger, older, and he had a physique that a man twenty years his senior would kill to have, so no contest.

However, he couldn't recall having this much fun since… Well, _ever_, so as he lay besides his junior, he couldn't help but grin. "Nice tumble, huh?" he asked.

"Duh," came a voice that suggested barely repressed laughter.

After Ragnarok had been scorched by an Ember three more times, it fainted, finally. But, when Urya rushed over to check on his partner, it suddenly revived, floated over to Ziri, gave him a death glare, and proceeded to bop him over the head. Of course, Cyndaquil immediately took offense at this, and hopped on- Only to be dragged around as it squealed pitifully.

The Fire Mouse and the Iron Ball Pokemon both flailed around midair for some five minutes, while Ziri pretty much started crying from the sheer hilarity of the situation. And that's when it suddenly got in Ragnarok's head to fly towards Ziri and see how he liked having an annoying squealing mouse on his back, so just as he neared him it made a sudden flip.

Cyndaquil crashed into Ziri's face, so after he picked himself up, swearing loudly, he charged across the field, where Ragnarok was celebrating this "victory" with his master, and grabbed onto it. Flinging it around, he then let go dead at the fence, where it lodged itself there, dizzy from having suffered through some fifteen revolutions.

Ziri, dizzy himself, managed to stumble off the battlefield onto a patch of grass and fell over, laughing like a hyena. That's when Urya got the idea to body slam the prone form of Zirienji Axlhedron, and as Ziri started wheezing from the direct impact to the lungs, Urya made a run for the fence to dislodge his partner. But Cyndaquil wasn't having it, so now the Fire Mouse Pokemon charged him directly, crashing into his face.

As _he_ fell over, Ziri got the breath back into his lungs- But not for long. He dived at Urya, who was now on the grass by the fence trying to get this Fire Mouse off his face, and tackled him into the ground, knocking off Cyndaquil in the process.

As they rolled towards the fence, Ragnarok fell loose, and crashed into Ziri's skull. As he howled in pain, Urya accidentally in his flailing punched Ragnarok in the eye.

As the cylinder of metal flailed, rolling around the ground, Ziri opened one eye, found hair in his face, and bit on it.

Urya was the one now howling in pain as his head was jerked along, thanks to Ziri's overzealous biting. As he grabbed hold of something, he swung it, sending it crashing into the body of his accidental attacker.

That of course was Ragnarok, and he whacked Ziri in the gut. Again. He opened his mouth to expel the sudden blast of air from inside him, and he let go of the overly girlish hair of Urya's; not that the owner cared.

In one smooth motion, Ziri reached out, and snagged Urya's ankle, just as the boy was standing up. He fell over again, and so for the rest of the interval between Falkner's arrival and the origins of this crazy fight they simply wrestled, laughing their butts off.

Their Pokemon were dizzy and out of breath, but they were laughing as well, and Ziri just lay there, drinking it all in.

Bye bye, New Bark Town. Hello, the rest of the world.

As Ziri made to get up, his hand caught onto something. Curious, he turned to whatever it was, and, to further surprise him he discovered it was an odd, small disc.

Before he could ask, he heard voices.

"Who's there?!"

Both he and Urya, laughter gone, jumped to their feet, Ziri quietly putting away the disc into his pocket. He also checked his Pokegear, just in case.

Ah. Seven thirty-three.

The gate to the set of three fields had been left open since Ziri had made his grand entrance, so they got in so fast Ziri never had time to engineer an escape before they were surrounded by angry faces, led by one violet-haired guy in particular…

"Who are you?"

Okay, no formalities.

"The name," he said loudly, "is Ziri Axlhedron. So, why are you guys all standing around and looking pissed?"

"Why you-! You're talking to the great Falkner here, the leader of-"

"Violet City's one and only Pokemon Gym, blah, blah, blah. I get the drill, since the sign that you guys painted on the building blares the message for a billion miles around, fools."

Urya, panicking, motioned for Ziri to shut up, but there was no stopping him."

"I mean like, it's an eye-catcher, but couldn't you have kept the tone mysterious so that I'd actually need to go into the freakin' gym to find out who's who?"

Falkner stared at Ziri, who returned it. "So, answer the question. Why are you here?"

Ziri stared back. "I wake up at six, so I decided to wander around with this guy who won't stop sticking to me like superglue" Urya gave him a dirty look at this "And I found this place, so I guessed a practice match would be nice."

Falkner perked up at this. "Oh? A practice match for what?"

"You and whatever badge you might have."

The Gym Leader gave Ziri an appraising look. "And I should battle you in the future, because-?"

"Gym Leaders have to accept any challengers, don't they?"

"Obviously." Falkner was getting irked by the attitude. "I'll be waiting this afternoon for you to be crushed then," he sneered and was about to turn when-

"Why not make it a double battle?"

He gave Ziri a look. "And I'd do that because…?"

"I've got a bunch of guys shooting for the badge, same as me," Ziri said quickly, a plan formulating in his head. "Why not make it a two-on-one-"

"Which would be unfair, fool-"

"Lemme finish, dammit. Two-on-one, but whoever comes with me uses only two, and I use two. But in total you get to use four, so it's four versus four. Oh, and one Pokemon out at a time for us, so it's not breaking any rules."

Falkner laughed. "Interesting plan, but I have better things to do than listen to the ideas of children-"

"You're not much older than me." Ziri now decided to pray and shoot to kill. "What, you're not accepting? Are you scared or something?"

Instantly, the Gym Leader's face began coloring, even in the slowly lightening day. "You-"

"Scared? I knew it. You act high and mighty, but you can't even handle two people at once, oh no," Ziri said in his best condescending tone. "You can't stand the fact that this kid just _might_ be better than you, so you're chickening out-"

At the words "Chickening out" Falkner made a sudden move towards me, but Ziri stood firm. Drawing himself into his face…

"Fine," he hissed, "Let's see how far that attitude gets you when we actually battle. My birds will smash you into the ground, so I hope you won't be crying."

"You scared that you're the one who's going to be crying?"

"Come to the Gym at three o'clock, and see how far that mouth gets you."

"Fine. Three in the afternoon. Hope you can put a cent of your money where your mouth is."

And with that, Ziri grabbed Urya, motioned for all his Pokemon to follow him and dragged him out of the field.

* * *

**Next chapter is the long-awaited Gym Battle between Ziri and Falkner... And somebody else. Ziri's got three partners to choose from- So, which one? Not gonna tell ya now...**

**Remember to review! Please!!!!!!!!!!**


	10. And the partner is

**Okay, so I lied- The gym battle isn't going to be in here today. I stayed up past 12 A.M. to finish this, so I'll be diagnosed with insommnia if I endeavor to finish the rest. I was mostly distracted by Yggdra Union today ~_~**

**Okay, but even though I slowed down the pace, next chapter will be even slower- I mean, it'll cover fifteen to thirty minutes. But, take note- It'll be an AWESOME fifteen to thirty minutes!! **

**Kill me later for disappointing you guys, but happy reading!**

* * *

As soon as the two, along with all their Pokemon, were out of sight of the careful eye of the trainers that accompanied Falkner, Ziri suddenly turned to Varacei. "Go back to the others, will you?" he asked. "I need somewhere to think."

"Are you regretting what you said already-?" Urya began, but Ziri quickly cut him off. "No, I just need to think of what I'll do. I might not be back till nine, so tell the others that I went out when they wake up, okay?"

And with that Ziri returned all his Pokemon and sprinted back towards the training fields, leaving Urya slightly confused, a bit worried, but mostly willing to perform his instructions.

* * *

Ziri had been telling the truth when he left, but he didn't tell the complete truth. There was no way to draw a battle strategy that was based on five minutes of observation and two Pokemon. No, he needed to watch for maybe an hour…

He arrived back on the outskirts, but this time, he scanned the fields for Falkner, and found him; the tall guy with the shockingly violet hair. Luckily, he had chosen the third of three fields, so in other words he was taking the field at the far right.

Keeping as low as possible of a profile, he slunk to the formerly mentioned side and proceeded to climb into a conveniently growing tree to both hide himself, and observe. And listen, as it was.

"F-Falkner," came the stutter, "A-Are you sure? You don't have to accept-"

"There are rules stating I have to, and personally I don't see the negatives in teaching brats their place. Now, get to it!"

Reluctantly, two of those training under Falkner walked over to one side of the field, while he took up a spot on the other.

_Exactly like what'll happen, _Ziri realized. _He's trying to train for this kind of battle._

_I should go warn the others, but I've got to see his style and Pokemon…_

In the meantime, the two novices on one end had sent out a Pidgey and the other a Swablu an odd, bluish bird with... Cotton wings? Falkner simply looked at them and tittered, before shouting, "Go! Pidgeotto and Starly!"

He sent out the same Pidgeotto from yesterday, which Ziri now realized, and this… odd Pokemon that seemed to have on a mask. He quickly moved to check his Pokedex, only to realize with a sinking feeling that it was left, with the contents of his backpack, at the Pokemon Center. He'd have to only watch, then…

"Go, Pidgeotto!" Falkner barked. "Gust! Starly, Use Quick Attack!"

The larger, cream-and-pink bird flapped its wings, creating the massive winds I'd seen earlier, while the smaller one suddenly boosted itself at high speed and smashed into the larger Swablu. The pair attempted to retaliate- Swablu tried to Peck that Starly out of the air, which obviously failed since the Starly simply boosted out of the way with another Quick Attack, while the Pidgey tried to use its own Gust against the oncoming one.

Sadly, neither could actually get out of the way nor stop it before the Gust blew them all over their trainer's heads.

As they flew back, slightly disoriented, Falkner took his next stab. "Starly, Pidgeotto, both of you! Use Quick Attack on the Pidgey!"

The combined rapid charges proved to be the last straw for the Tiny Bird Pokemon, who dropped instantly to the ground unconscious. As the trainer hurriedly returned it, the Swablu opened its mouth on the order of "Sing!"

The melody that floated out was enough to put the Pidgeotto to sleep, while the Starly had succeeded in retreating before it became completely enraptured in the melody.

"Starly, quickly use Growl to stop Swablu's singing!"

The rather carrying sound of "Staaaaarrrrrr!" succeeded in catching the Swablu's attention, so that the blue-colored bird stopped singing at that instant to listen to the cute little growl.

In the meantime, the trainer with the downed Pidgey whipped out a Hoothoot, which started bouncing around immediately. "Hoothoot, Tackle the Pidgeotto!" its trainer shouted in confidence.

The owl with eyebrows at an angle that would shame a clock at three somehow charged across the field at the helplessly sleeping bird-

"Starly, Quick Attack!" Falkner barked.

The Starling Pokemon became a blur as it crashed into the Hoothoot's side. As it angrily spun around, the Pidgeotto raised its head sleepily- And realized exactly what was going on. Immediately, hopping to its feet, it flapped its wings in a Sand-Attack that flew into the Hoothoot's large rounded eyes.

As it screeched in an attempt to shake out the sand, Falkner called "Both of you! Tackle it from both sides!"

"Swablu, stop them! Use Peck!"

The Cotton Bird Pokemon flew forward, its head pointing directly at Starly's back. Before that could happen, however, Falkner yelled, "Starly, Double Team!"

Immediately, the Starling Pokemon, much to Ziri's surprise, split into a set of four clones that whirled around the Swablu. It halted, confused as to where exactly it had gone; in the meantime, the real Starly completed the sandwich maneuver, and the Hoothoot dropped dismally to the ground.

The clones faded, revealing a now angry Swablu- Whose expression became one of a scared Swablu upon realizing exactly how many were on its side- And how many were on the other side.

Falkner only knew it too well. With a grin, he called "Gust, Pidgeotto!"

The winds flew forth, and the Swablu barely had time to realize it before it was swept away, squealing loudly. "Now, Starly!" shouted Falkner. "Finish it with Tackle!"

The Cotton Bird Pokemon had no chance. Although the foe rushing at it was smaller and lighter, Ziri thought, it was still a sitting Swablu.

Silence on the field, as the two remaining bird Pokemon busily looked around for any sign of a further threat. Then, one of the trainers stepped out and began clapping.

Ziri groaned as if on cue the entire set of fields immediately began clapping. _Lackeys, _he grumbled mentally. _Do they seriously have no independent thought? _

With that, he hopped out of the tree and sprinted back to the Pokemon Center, his thoughts turning back to what he witnessed.

_He likes to spread confusion in his enemies. _The Gust attack was the best possible example, but Ziri also remembered the Mud Slap that the Pidgeotto had used yesterday.

_Then, he opens the battle wide open with rapid approaches. _The Quick Attacks had served to get his Pokemon across the battlefield so fast that his opponents, whoever they might be, would never have a chance to get prepared.

_After that, when he's isolated one Pokemon, he'll try to take it out first to rip out the first link of the chain, isolating the other. _The sandwich maneuver had been incredibly effective since the Swablu's fate had been sealed the moment it fell for the Double Team; all that had been left was to take out the other and then turn to it and take _it _out. Easy.

In other words, Ziri had one advantage in his the midst of the disadvantages of being less experienced, younger, and having Pokemon not as well trained as Falkner.

He knew the nuts and bolts of his battle strategy. It was now up to Ziri and whoever he was going to battle with to exploit it. Their one ray of sunlight…

* * *

It was eight-thirty by the time Ziri got back to the Pokemon Center. Already, it was beginning to fill out with people, in addition to the cafeteria being crowded with breakfast-goers.

He immediately spotted the rest of them; how many groups have a really hot chick, a young kid with girlish hair with a gray Beldum, a girl with a Charmander on the shoulder, and a silently brooding guy all at one table?

The thing was, when Ziri rushed in, knocking down at least three people, you could add human storm to the list.

Cute. Human storm. If the ladies thought so.

"Guys," he said, out of breath, "I _really _need to-" Then he caught sight of all their faces. They were looking rather worried, to say the least.

"Ziri," Alex began, but was cut off by the person in question when he gave Urya the death glare.

"You _told_ them?" he asked incredulously. "What the heck did I say?"

"Uh…" Urya was turned pale at this accusation. "I… I was blackmailed!" he quickly fibbed, and the death glare left him to scan everyone else.

"Which of you guys did it-" he began sternly, and then broke off. "Hell, never mind. So. What do you guys think of the plan?"

They all looked at each other before they looked back at him. "Well," Hannah began hesitantly, "I'm the only one here that that doesn't do gyms… But don't you think it's a bit too fast for you- And us? I mean, yesterday-"

"I know, I know," Ziri said, still not coming down from his high. "I was busy screaming bloody murder yesterday, but a lot can change in twelve hours. I had a change of heart, so what the heck, I'm doing it."

"So, who wants the honor of being with me at three in the afternoon?"

Again, everyone exchanged looks, before simultaneously everyone but Hannah raised their hands- Totally unaware of each other, before they realized it and started glaring at each other.

Gale went first. "I'm more qualified-" he began.

Alex cut him off. "I've got more experience-"

"I've got the better Pokemon-" Urya whined.

It soon became a three-way argument, which obviously got nowhere- Until Hannah and Ziri, having a rare moment of agreement, nodded at each other and each grabbed one of them by the ear.

Alex and Urya were the selections. Gale just sat there, openmouthed.

"Okay," Ziri began. "Can we please settle this-"

"In a way that doesn't involve loud gesturing and such?" Hannah finished, pointing at the main part of the cafeteria where the entire population was staring at them.

"Oh," came the three pronouncements. And they sat down quietly.

The rest of breakfast was finished in silence while Ziri was thinking faster and faster.

* * *

Another twenty minutes later, and they were all outside as the sun rose steadily higher and higher. July was ending in a week; this was August's calling card.

"So, how're you going to decide who goes to the Gym today?" Urya quickly asked.

Ziri turned and faced all of them. "One thing is that I've got to come, since Falkner actually mentioned me. The other thing is that whoever comes can only use two Pokemon, like me, but Falkner uses four to keep it even."

"The moral: Whoever goes with me better not screw up."

He looked at everyone dead in their eyes, where even Gale had to admit that it looked frightening- Then he went into slightly-less-serious mode. "The only way I know of picking one person out of three people is drawing lots, having a rock-paper-scissors, me playing eenie-minee-mo, or hitting the roulette. Maybe Russian, but I'm not in the mood, just regular roulette."

Struck by his apparently sudden desire to kill them, they nonetheless voted.

Roulette.

"So, um," Hannah interjected, "Where's the nearest roulette?"

Silence. "There isn't a Game Corner anywhere…" Ziri said thoughtfully, "Or we could just battle each other."

Now _that _was a good idea. But one thing- There was only three contestants for the honor of sticking it out with Ziri. Hannah settled it; "Ziri will battle the one who beats everyone else as well," she declared, "and if that person can survive three minutes against one of his Pokemon then he or she will get the top spot. Otherwise, back to the drawing board… Oh, and we can only use one Pokemon each."

Ziri whistled. "Not bad of a plan."

"So… what's the layout?" Urya asked, barely keeping up with the discussion. "Who versus who…?"

Ziri raised an eyebrow. "Rock-paper-scissors, anyone?"

* * *

Ten minutes later, after much crying from Urya, silence from Gale, and general bossiness from Alex, it was decided- Gale would go against Alex, but Urya would battle whoever won- And then Ziri would take the stand and see how she or he did against him, which he grumbled against (Why me?), but grudgingly accepted. If only because Hannah (Sweetly) threatened in a whisper to take off her shirt.

"Ready to lose?" Gale challenged Alex, as he readied a random Pokeball. That was part of the hastily drawn up rules- You picked a random Pokemon for each battle. Now…

"Go!" Gale and Alex each shouted, and praying for a good type matchup they each threw up their Pokeballs.

Ziri simply watched from the sidelines, as Light the Eevee popped out, ruffling her fur, while she faced down Gale's Slowpoke, who upon entering the battle looked at it with an air of mild disinterest.

Ziri, having been reminded once about the habits of this Slowpoke, lazily called out "Need a Rawst Berry?"

Gale glared at him, but grudgingly (Too many people were doing this today) nodded. Ziri lazily tossed him the berry and then closed his eyes.

"Alright, Slowpoke!" Gale shouted, slightly miffed. "Confu-"

"Light, use Swift!"

The stars flew faster than the Slowpoke could get its concentration up and running, so it gave a blink of confusion for two seconds- Thanks to its rather delayed reaction time- And then moaned in pain. Alex wrinkled her nose at this, but then shouted "Go, Quick Attack!"

"Counter with Water Gun!"

As the Eevee flung itself forward at high speed, the Dopey Pokemon opened its gaping jaws and blasted out a stream of water. However, the speed of the Eevee enabled it to sidle sideways and then slam in the pink body of the Pokemon, cutting off the flow of water. Again, the Slowpoke blinked, before it groaned in pain.

"Wasn't the reaction time faster when you hit it with Thunder?" Hannah wondered aloud as Urya watched on the other side, rather unhappily.

Ziri shrugged, keeping his eyes closed. "I guess the electricity stimulated the pain receptors…"

Hannah turned to look at him. "You're not paying much attention-"

"I already know all about their styles of battle, so I don't need to pay attention right now." Ziri yawned. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that they know that, so they're just trying to do all they can to impress me by using something different this time around. Look," he began, as a Confusion finally struck Light, "I, to be honest, have no battle strategy whatsoever. Okay," he quickly added, "I have a few morals that I go by… But nothing as to say 'I've got to do this!' when it's obviously the dumbest thing in the world."

"Like…?"

"Head-on collisions."

And with that, Ziri yawned again, as Hannah stared at him doubtfully.

Alex was proving to be a wily customer. Or so Gale thought as another Swift crashed into his Slowpoke. "Don't let that get to you!" he shouted, as the pain came earlier as the damage grew. "Catch it with Water Gun!"

"Quick Attack now, Light!"

"Sweep the area with Water Gun!"

Gale's intention became clear; the water swept through the air and caught Light in mid-air, who helplessly squealed as she was thrown backwards. "Confusion, now!" Gale shouted, sensing an opening.

The blue aura around the Slowpoke glowed, and Light yelped as she was lifted upwards. In a burst of panic, Alex shouted "Swift!"

Somehow, the Eevee managed let out one or two stars that smacked into Slowpoke's face. The concentration was broken; it rolled over, signifying its distress, and Alex shouted "Now! Tackle!"

Although it looked physically impossible, the Slowpoke actually rolled over from the attack, which settled the question- Can Slowpoke's be knocked out just by bashing them physically?

The answer- Yes.

Gale stared in disbelief at the fact that his Slowpoke had lost, before sighing and returning the fainted Pokemon to its Pokeball. "You did a good job," he said, and faced Alex. "Guess this means I wait tomorrow-"

"Ohh! Ohh!" Urya called, jumping up. "My turn!?"

Gale only turned and walked back into the Pokemon Center.

"Loser," Urya sighed, and turned. "So, when do we start?" he asked brightly.

"Twenty minutes," Ziri interjected, opening his eyes and standing up. "I'm going to take a walk, you guys do whatever- But come back here in twenty minutes, please?"

With that, he sprinted for the center of the city, leaving everyone blinking at both the fact that he'd left them so suddenly- And that he'd actually used the word "please."

They shrugged. What of it? I mean, he could be something of an idiot, but…

* * *

Ziri had one destination in mind- The Contest Hall. Violet City had no public berry blender machines, and he disliked making poffins, anyway, as Pokeblocks were the way to go in his opinion- And the only public place to make them was the Contest Halls- When they were open, that was.

So he walked inside, where there was a thin crowd in there already, doing absolutely…

Nothing. Just, one, chatting, two, bumming the seats and using them as makeshift beds, or three, flirting with each other. None interested Ziri at the moment (Item number three never had), so as quickly as possible he slipped over to the berry blenders.

Of course, with looks as good as his, Ziri knew that his entrance would be noticed in a few minutes, so he worked to use what little time he had. Quickly unzipping the berry pocket of his backpack, he dumped in the recipe for spicy Pokeblocks and smacked the "on" button as fast as he could.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and then checked the timer.

One minute to blend, thirty seconds to strain…

And it had taken him seven minutes to get here. By rough estimates, that meant he had time to make four Pokeblock flavors, and then hightail it out of here…

* * *

Gale, having submitted his Slowpoke's ball for care, ventured back outside, to find everybody but Ziri lounging around, while Urya was somehow being twice as hyper as usual.

"How do you think I'll do? Huh? Huh? Huh!?" he chattered excitedly. "I mean, I'm not going to go easy on her just because she's a girl-"

"Hey!"

"What?" he whined. "It's true… I mean, everyone says girls are supposed to be delicate-"

Hannah couldn't help but go on the offensive for Alex. "That must mean you're delicate since you were your hair like a girl, eh?" she said snidely.

"Sh-shut up! I'm as durable as any boy you know-"

Hannah proceeded to give him one of the slaps she usually reserved for Ziri. He instantly fainted. "Durable as Ziri?" she quipped. "I think not…"

The air was filled with nervous giggles and twitching from Urya. Not that twitching made a sound, but…

* * *

Ziri had loaded in the last of the berries, this time for a sweet flavor, and was halfway through the blending process when he heard the squeal behind him.

"He is so HOT!"

Ziri slowly turned around, praying that it wasn't him.

It was.

In front of him was one rather flirty-looking female, one with a ridiculously low cut black shirt that revealed a toned stomach, pink short shorts, as in _short_¸ and sunglasses in her jet-black, pink-highlighted hair.

Ziri groaned. Fifty seconds. "Uh, did someone call-?"

He never got a chance to get a direct answer, when she suddenly wrapped her arms around his left one. "Uh, what the heck are you-"

"Can you go out on a date with me sometime?" she asked sweetly. "Got a number I can call? Got a girlfriend already? Well, if you do-"

"I don't," Ziri grumbled, and smoothly slipped out of her grasp, praying that her outburst and ensuing stream of words hadn't caught too much attention.

Fat chance. Everyone, even the receptionists, were staring at him and his "girlfriend" with envy. And jealousy. And some rather bemused glances. That was good- Those bewildered ones did not automatically think up a conclusion and then stick with it.

"Aww," the girl now slyly cooed, "A hot single bachelor like you-"

"I'm fifteen, dammit," Ziri growled, half annoyed. "How does that make me a-"

"Oh, it's a term I slap onto every hot guy I meet," she said dismissively.

"Oh," Ziri said blankly, and then a thought struck him.

"So," he said, an evil grin creeping across his face, "When you say every guy-"

"Oh, that's just-" she began, a blush creeping across her cheeks slightly, but Ziri continued, unabated.

"-does that mean you're not a maiden?"

The entire contest hall went completely silent. Well, except for the _ding_ of the berry blender finishing up with straining. It started noisily expelling its contents into the Pokeblock case, before it shut off.

Ziri's job here was finished. As soon as the case's lid was closed, he capped it, snagged his backpack, and sprinted out of the hall zipping it, knowing full well the uproar he had caused.

As the clock ticked, the twenty minute mark grew nearer by one minute.

"Think he'll actually keep his promise?" Gale asked offhandedly.

"Duh," Urya said, relaxing against a tree- And keeping as far away from Hannah as possible.

"Well, what do you see in him that makes you so sure?" Gale responded. He never did have a high opinion of Ziri, though it had lightened slightly since the incident with the Houndoom…

"I just get the feeling," Urya said, looking rather far away into the distance as he said it, "That if he broke a promise he'd bite himself."

Hannah stared at him. "Are you _crazy_? Who would do that?"

Alex turned and gave her a raised eyebrow. "Knowing what Ziri's done, that's actually possible… Remember _that _incident?"

Hannah turned to her in shock. "You mean the one where you let down your skirt?"

At that moment, Ziri came charging in, not covered in dust because he had been sprinting too fast for the dust to have caught up to him. "What did I miss?" he asked, out of breath.

The two boys there, Urya and Gale both slowly turned their heads to him, Urya in utter disbelief and Gale in slight incomprehension. "They were talking about where she" indicating Alex "let down her skirt in front of you…" Gale trailed off at this point.

Ziri turned pale. "She… she didn't do it to _you_¸ did she?" he whispered in terror.

"No," he said, rolling his eyes, "I wasn't as lucky as you." He said it in sarcasm, so Ziri was sure he did not want the honor of it.

Just like Ziri. "Well, I knocked myself out before I could see…"

"By slamming his head into a tree," she informed the unknowing ones.

"Can we please continue?" Ziri said loudly, well aware his reputation was suffering a massive beating here. "Oh, and the Contest Hall… Have you two registered yet?"

Both instantly turned pale. "Uh, we haven't," Hannah said shakily.

Recalling a sign that he had seen…

"I heard that today's the last day of registration," Ziri said innocently.

Both looked like they had seen death. "Uh, can we skip this and go?" Hannah said weakly.

"How about we finish that after we go to the Gym?" Alex asked hopefully.

Ziri shook his head. "No can do; registration ends three P.M. sharp. Aren't there, like three days till the contest?"

Alex's face fell. "Then I think I'll have to skip this," she began.

"Why not register now?"

Alex blinked. "Oh." And with that, she sprinted off.

Ziri sighed, and turned to Urya. "Wanna finish it now?"

Urya blinked, and started jumping up and down. "Yes!" he practically shouted, and the people in the Pokemon Center gave him dirty looks from the inside.

"Then let's get started. Which Pokemon, then…" Closing his eyes, Ziri set down all his Pokeballs and began to feel around for a random one.

* * *

Alex was back forty minutes later, to find only Ziri waiting for her. "Where are the others?" she asked, confused.

"Inside," Ziri yawned, and sat up. "You ready?" he asked. "Urya lost in two and a half minutes, even though I picked Togepi, because for an odd reason Metronome kept spawning off weak attacks. Thundershock, a Tackle… It only ended when Togepi disappeared and smacked his Eevee... Yuki... from behind with something called Faint Attack… Oh, and your Pokemon look exhausted."

It was true; Blaze's tail was drooping, the flame was burning low, and her two Eevee's were panting beside her. "Well," she mumbled, "they ran all the way with me…"

"Which mean's they're all out of shape and you can't use them. But what about that Pidgey?"

She remembered. "Oh yeah," she said guiltily. "Um…"

"You haven't let it out in a long time, have you?"

"Well, sort of!... No," she finished. "Let it out two days ago, but it wouldn't obey me so I put it back in…"

Ziri sighed. "I could give you a fast break and just let you come with me as my partner, but where's the fun in that?"

Then he looked at her. "_Did_ you register?"

"Well, it took me a while because there was this weird girl screaming about how she was a maiden or something-"

Ziri fell over, crying in laughter. Bemused, Alex looked on in confusion, until Ziri picked himself up in confusion. "I, uh, passed a remark about her… Not that you need to know it," he said quickly.

"Would you tell me what you said if I…?" she said sweetly, in an all too familiar tone that made Ziri turn his head for safety issues.

"No thanks," he said quickly, "I'm not in to being blackmailed-"

"Then will you let me battle you? I swear the Pidgey will obey…"

Ziri blinked, since the question had come out of the blue, but he shrugged. "What the heck. You sure you're ready?"

Without a word, she stalked to one end, and Ziri, shaking his head, stalked to the other. This time, he decided, would be time for Aipom to make the stand.

"Aipom, you're up!" he shouted, tossing the sphere high in the air.

"Pidgey, I choose you!" Alex retorted, sending hers forward rather than upwards.

The Long Tail Pokemon burst out, and started chattering, grin in place, while the Pidgey flew around in loop-de-loops, obviously not impressed by this change in scenery since it had been last out.

"Pidgey, use Gust!"

Ziri tensed, ready to counter the order, but the Pidgey did nothing, only look behind itself and shake a wing at her before continuing in the chain of loop-de-loops.

"Oh, listen to me for heaven's sake-" she began, frustrated, but there was no stopping it.

"Aipom, Swift!"

The mini-monkey jumped up and swung its tail, creating a rain of stars that smacked the Pidgey solidly- As in, all of them. Disoriented (It had struck with its back to sender), it fell over. Ziri, knowing full well how oddly powerful this Pidgey was, took no chances and shouted "Doubleslap!"

Aipom pounced, tail already waving. Upon hearing the "AiAiAi!" that came from an approaching source as it came, it raised its head. Ziri, noticing that it was beginning to come back to its senses called for a Tail Whip as it went, so as the Pidgey looked up its attention would be snagged by the tail…

Only to be slapped senseless by the back-and-forth attack. It had certainly returned to its senses in a painful way, and the torture wasn't stopping there. "Aipom, Fury Swipes!"

Alex groaned helplessly as the Pidgey that, Ziri had ironically caught for her was being beaten up now with his own Pokemon. "Pidgey," she called desperately, "You have to listen! You'll-"

It escaped from the storm of swipes and despite now being significantly battered it turned around and gave her a dirty look.

And then, it swooped down for a Tackle- Ziri had prepared for that one, indeed if any bird Pokemon tried to do that. "Use your tail to spring over it!" he called, much as he had done in the morning's training session with Urya.

Again, it worked- The Pidgey, startled, tried to follow the tail, but only met empty air as it snapped back up to its main body. Further complicating matters…

"Swift, close range!"

The glowing hand swung, yet again, and the stars literally created a machine gun effect- _Bambambambam_ was the sound of the impacts, and both human parties winced collectively as the Pidgey was hurled a good ten feet through the air before landing in a heap.

Alex ran over, while Ziri checked the time.

One minute left- Time was running short for Alex.

"Pidgey," she said, speaking quietly to the downed form, "I know you don't respect me" it threw its head away from her as she said this "but if you don't listen you'll lose! Look at you, another of those Swift attacks and you'll be done for! Just listen to me, this once to win!"

It stared at her, the beady eyes unflinchingly scrutinizing her own for any flaws in the sincerity of her voice.

It found none, and slowly it nodded and took flight.

Ziri raised an eyebrow but remained silent, save this- "Aipom, Tail Whip-"

"Sand-Attack!"

Suddenly the Pidgey swooped low and blasted a puff of sand into Aipom's eye. As it yowled in panic, scratching at its eyes, Alex called out "Gust!"

The pulse of wind blasted Aipom into a lonely tree, where she got up woozily. Taking a chance, Alex called "Quick Attack!"

Instantly, the Tiny Bird Pokemon became a brown-and-cream colored blur that sent Aipom tumbling further. Ziri sighed, and shouted "Counter with Swift!"

"Whirlwind!"

Ziri blinked with surprise, but he had to cover his face with his hands to shield them from the winds that were created. The stars launched wavered in the air before dispersing into energy; Aipom only managed to stay anywhere near the battlefield thanks to a quick order from Ziri to snag onto the nearest rock.

"Okay," Ziri said, "You're getting serious- But now, I get super-serious. Thirty seconds."

"Charge! Swift!"

Immediately Aipom scampered forward, throwing a barrage of stars outwards as well.

"Gust, and then Tackle!"

The Pidgey blasted forth a gust of wind, as per its name, and then sped forth in its wake. The wind succeeded in holding back the stars; however, the same could not be said of the actual target.

"Use your tail on the ground, and then throw yourself with it at that crazy bird!"

As per instructions, the miniature monkey with a weird tail grabbed the ground, riding out the buffeting current of wind; then, she used the tail as a sling to throw herself and latch onto the surprised victim.

It squawked, trying to dislodge this unwanted passenger, but Aipom just held on tight to its body, even though it went through several barrel rolls.

As it paused its desperate attempts to get its passenger off, Ziri decided to put into place the second part of his plan. He opened his mouth-

But that was when the buzzer rang.

He blinked, and then grinned.

"Congrats," he told a confused Alex, "You passed the test."

Passed the test.

You passed the test.

Alex had to mentally remind herself what that meant before the true meaning struck her dead on the head.

_I'm his partner. I'm going to the Violet City Gym today to put it all on the line. _

"Hello?" Ziri's voice snapped her out of her mental sanctuary. "Are you alive? In a vegetative state? Hello?"

Deciding to take her sweet, sweet revenge, she smiled the venomous smile, and Ziri paled. But he didn't turn his head fast enough in time to see her hands move to the skirt.

He whirled around, found the nearest tree where his Aipom had bashed into only a minute before, and smashed his own head against it. This time, he actually bounced backwards on his back. But the look, blood, and even the words were the same.

"That hurt." The tone was the same as well. And then he got the glazed look over his eyes.

Alex hadn't removed her skirt at all, but now she was rushing over to his side in panic, but it was less this time- If he could survive an impact with one tree, why couldn't he survive an impact with a second? She was relieved to see he still had a pulse, at least, while his Aipom chattered in panic…

The entire crowd of all Pokemon Center residents spilled out to see if Zirienji Axlhedron was dead; obviously they had all seen him bash his head against the lone tree outside. His traveling companions only stared at his bloody forehead before the burst into nervous whispering among themselves.

"Is he going to survive this one?" Urya said in a rather carrying whisper, and half the crowd tuned in to what he had to say as a Chansey waddled into the group.

"Of course," Hannah said, in a much more secretive manner, "if he can survive one, then can survive two."

And it was true, of course. If there was anything Hannah Rangzeski was always correct at, then it would be deciding whether Zirienji Axlhedron would live or not thanks to his self-knockout antics.

* * *

**The gym battle is the NEXT chapter, so keep your fingers crossed. I have three days of summer left- Better finish the battle before it all comes to an end... **

**Remember to review! Please!!!**


	11. One out of a thousand down

**This is the most massive chapter that I've ever, as in _ever_, written. It tops nine thousand words- You heard me, 9000+- But just barely. But I guess that you guys will have pleasure reading this... At least, I pray.**

**MoneyStax: I seriously am thinking of reversing Synthia's role from trainer to coordinator, if possible. If you review, then let me know, and I'll oblige since right now her role is ambiguous.**

**To all who have faithfully reviewed: You guys are the greatest community of people that I've ever known. Keep up the pure awesomeness (And review this one! ;D)**

**And to those who somehow favorited me but never reviewed: WTF? I can't do anything about it, but can you please take two minutes to write a sentence? Maybe three? Oh well.**

**Happy reading to all (Even those who won't review)!**

* * *

A few hours later later, after Ziri had woken up and snarled at Alex for good measure and vented all his anger at her ridiculous and totally unwarrented stunts, he finally cooled down and told her everything he knew about Falkner; his Pokemon, his tactics...

"So, he does that… Always?" Alex asked thoughtfully after a long silence as he finished.

"Well, yeah…" Ziri replied, "He did that even though his opponents swapped out their Pokemon. No variation at all… Unless you count the Double Team that time. But, everything's the same, and that's his Achilles Heel."

Then he groaned. "This sucks… I have no set battle strategy like him. So, you have no clue what I do… But I guess the fact that I know what _you _do sort of makes up for it."

Alex perked up at this. "Really?"

"'Course. You prefer to soften up the opposition first from afar before you actually get your hands- Or paws- Dirty. But if you have to you'll just barrel in for no good reason. Simple."

She blinked, but then realized that what he said was true. And that made her curious; what kind of mental capacity did he have?

He yawned, and leaned back; Alex suddenly had the nasty feeling that in the Pokemon Center that the chairs were not designed to withstand just how far Ziri could stiffen his spine.

For some odd reason, it did, but that didn't make Alex feel any better- The entire Center was now staring as this kid flattened himself across a chair made to hold 135 degrees of leaning, not a perfect 180.

The chair ominously creaked, but suddenly Ziri snapped back, breathing out- But that wasn't the only the only thing that did, since it also had the nasty side effect of getting the chair slapping his back _hard_. And sending him sprawling.

"Oww," was the mumble.

And then he got back up, generally unscathed with a lightly bruising back, and walked back to his seat.

* * *

Hannah was trying to get through the streets of Violet City, but there was no arguing with the crowds. Especially the kind that she attracted

She was beginning to regret taking along Ziri, for good measure, as the weak-hearted men had instant, slow, or delayed nosebleeds; the stronger-hearted ones were stopping the traffic all for a good ogle and wolf-whistle or two. But she just walked on, knowing if she stopped and started raging she'd have the title of "Feisty" slapped on as well. And that was the last thing she wanted.

She was beginning to wonder why she couldn't run as fast as Ziri or maybe vault over them like him…

In the meantime, Urya was bounding through the crowd, who parted instantly for this… odd addition to the city's population. Meaning, how many boys do you see everyday with a gray Beldum and girlish hair? Half of them thought that he _was _a girl…

That's when he crashed into a heavyset man right in front of Hannah, and as he staggered off, bemused at his sudden negative acceleration, Hannah seized the chance immediately; snagging his arm, he announced in the sweetest and loudest voice possible, "There you are, honey!" and began dragging him off toward the Contest Hall.

They didn't stop for another fifteen minutes; while it certainly scattered the crowds and turned away the mean, her cheeks burned with the carrying whispers of "That indecent girl" and all phrases metaphorical to that.

She finally stopped, and took deep breaths, trying to hyperventilate her system into cooling down. "Uh," Urya asked slowly, aware that she could knock him out cold without even giving him a second glance, "Why are you-?"

"I… am angry. That's it. Now, go away to wherever you need to go. _Now_."

He immediately retreated; Hannah sighed, and walked into the contest hall.

Twelve noon.

* * *

Ziri was now taking liberties and walking over to the training field- With Alex trying to keep up in his wake. That is, his jogging wake.

"Ziri… slow… down," she gasped, as she for the third time in the last fifteen minutes fell to her knees.

He gave her an exasperated glance. "Hello? We've got less than three hours before the match, so don't you think we're entitled to warm-ups beforehand?"

"No… It's just… that… you're going too fast, and it's hot…"

He completely stopped this time, and gave her another exasperated glance. "What do you want me to do, carry you?"

He then groaned at his own comment, because then he suddenly realized it would be more than likely that she'd faint on the way there. Ziri was sweaty as well, but he was used to Johto summers; so he barely felt it.

If she was from Kanto, though…

He punched himself on the side of the head for good measure, and then picked her up, gingerly. "Hmmm?" she mumbled, too exhausted to care.

"I will never forgive myself for this," he mumbled.

Setting her on his shoulders, he sprinted for the training field.

* * *

As Hannah walked in, she was suddenly greeted by the sight of a crowd of people surrounding someone she couldn't see. Thankfully, though the crowd was evenly split between male and female, nobody saw her…

As she walked further towards the desk, she heard a high pitched screaming.

"I can't _believe _him! Why did he just say that? Why? Why? He was gorgeous, too! That incredible brown hair, and those perfect arms… How dare he ask-!"

"But, are you-?"

"Um, excuse me, are you here to register?"

Hannah snapped her attention from the verbal debacle to the attendant. "Um, yes" she said quickly. But then her face fell. "I don't have a Contest Pass, though…"

The attendant blinked. "Oh, we have one more left… You're lucky, you know? Here, do you have a Pokegear, Pokenav, or Poketech?"

As Hannah passed the first option, or at least the one she owned over, suddenly the attendant said "That girl over there… she got more than she bargained for when she talked to the boy that came in here. He doesn't do contests, I think, he just comes in and makes Pokeblocks… The thing is, she tried to get him to take her out on a date, but then he said something about her being not a maiden or something…"

Hannah blinked, as the attendant busied herself registering the Pokegear and by extension the owner for Contests. That sounded exactly the kind of thing that someone she knew would say in a situation like that... "What did that boy look like? I heard her say he had brown hair…" (And perfect arms, she forgot to note)

"Oh, he had this white T-shirt on, with some red stripes on the sleeves and light blue cargo pants… With the hair. Even from here, he looked good enough for at least five dates…"

_Ziri? What the heck was he doing here-?_

"What's wrong?" the attendant asked, noting the spacing out as she passed back the Pokegear, everything registered. "Do you know him?"

She tore her attention from the ceiling. "Uh, yeah," she said hastily, taking her Pokegear, "I'm traveling with him-"

"WHAT?!"

Turning around, she saw the former center of attention. The jet black hair with pink highlights, the midriff-exposing top, and those short shorts complete with sunglasses; this was one heck of a flirt, Hannah thought, as the two traded looks, one bewildered, the other enraged.

"What are you-"

"What makes _you _good enough to travel with _him_?"

The Contest Hall's lobby was silent, as everyone watched the standoff apprehensively. Feeling angered, Hannah coldly retorted "What's it mean for you?"

"He is the _best _looking guy that I have _ever _seen in my life, and I am not going to let wallflowers like _you_ get in my way-"

"WHAT!?" Hannah screeched. "I'm a… I'm a WALLFLOWER?"

They glared at each other, neither giving ground. "Of course you are! You might have awesome looks, but-"

"But what!?" Hannah snapped. "So what if I travel with him? He's the bane of my existence!"

Her opponent blinked, and now an evil smile was coming on. "Oh," she cooed, "You must be immune to his charms, and those arms, those beautiful strong arms-"

Not about to be bested, now Hannah declared, in her loudest possible prim voice, "I've seen his arms _and _his chest, so beat _that_!"

She stalked out, past her stunned opponent, but she wasn't completely out before the voice behind her screeched "Remember that Synthia Renata will beat you to him, whatever his name is!"

Hannah turned around and yelled back "I actually know his name, idiot!" before stalking off.

* * *

Alex had successfully recovered lying on the green grass that Ziri knew happened to have an impossible about of care being devoted to it- This late in summer and only a few patches of brown? Oh well. It wasn't long before she got into shape, having no memory of what happened, but her Pokemon gave him grateful looks anyway.

"So," he said impatiently, after she'd gotten a drink, "You ready yet?"

Blinking, she then quickly nodded and shouted "Blaze, it's time!"

"Fire-types for today, huh? Then try this! Cyndaquil, flame on!"

Twenty minutes later, Alex had succeeded in knocking out his Cyndaquil, but Ziri had taken out her Charmander and Light the Eevee before he succumbed to repeated Quick Attacks. Aipom, however, when sent out, immediately hopped behind Ziri, not liking the look of the Eevee.

Bribery with Oran Berries always helped, and she scampered forward a few seconds later, bluish juice running down her grin. Alex wrinkled her nose in distaste- Though her expression became one of panic when with one Swift attack Dark was thrown away. And did not get up.

Of course, Ziri knew that the Pidgey was coming out, so he wasted no time in ordering another Swift- Which was predictably scatted by a Whirlwind, which predictable was ridden out by grabbing a particularly resilient patch of grass with the tail as it came.

Then came a Quick Attack, which Ziri had been silently egging Alex on to order. Finally, with the tail, it snagged onto one wing, and Aipom hoisted herself up as the Pidgey squawked in panic.

Then came part two of his master plan- Tickle.

The Pidgey fell to earth choking in laughter, and Ziri wasted no time. Swifts, Fury Swipes, and Doubleslaps galore, it was over in thirty seconds.

Now he had his hands on his knees, as the heat started getting to him. "That," he commented dryly, "was the weirdest battle in my whole life. Death by Tickling…"

"That's evil!"

"All's fair in war, you know...."

* * *

On the way back to the Pokemon Center, Ziri had a rather hair-raising experience.

"ZIRI!" Hannah shrieked, running up to them and stopping ten feet away, not caring about the commotion she was making (The crowds had instantly parted before her when they saw the look on her face). "WHO WAS THAT… THAT…"

She seemed so angry she couldn't get any words out- But realizing that Hannah had been to the Contest Hall…

Ziri knew that his life would take two possibilities- Live, or die within the next ten seconds. "You mean the flirt?" he asked meekly, instinctively backing away.

"YES! Wait," she said, her voice lowering in volume for a few seconds, "How did you-"

"You went to the Contest Hall, right?" he mumbled, backing away further.

Hannah followed. "What did you do?" she demanded. "Did you do anything _suggestive _in front of her? Were you sweating when you ran in? Did she-"

"I was busy trying to make some Pokeblocks," he quickly muttered, "And I didn't know that she was going to flirt with me…"

Hannah stopped advance towards him. "Oh."

The three stood in silence; Ziri now checked his Pokegear. "It's one now," he announced, "So I'm getting back to the Center to take a snooze and chill before marching over to Falkner's. Bye," he said, and lifted one leg to get the heck out of there.

Hannah walked over, as in light-speed walked over which is quite the feat for one wearing two-and-a-half-inch heels, and punched in the base of his skull. Unconsciousness was immediate, though Alex caught him.

"That," she announced, "Is to stop him from getting noticed by people who are too flirty for their own good."

"I hate that woman, Synthia Renata or whatever…"

* * *

Two forty-five- Abruptly Ziri stood up from his seat inside the Pokemon Center and went outside, the only explanation he offered to the four that followed him- "It's time."

And with that, he walked his fast pace towards the Violet City Gym, everyone trying to keep up with the pace.

* * *

Falkner was getting impatient, to say the least.

He glanced at the clock high on his Gym's wall; two-fifty-five. He gave a derisive snort- Would he and whoever that came with him actually be here at all-?

As if to speak of the devil himself, at that moment the door to the Gym opened and five people walked in.

The most eye-catching of this group of five would either be the one with the girlish hair and the Beldum or the really hot girl that walked…

Busy slapping the very one that came to challenge Falkner. Falkner shook his head in disbelief as the one brave enough to stand before him cowered before a girl. But all the same…

Falkner stood up from his bench on the other side of the Gym and called "I hope you've already gone to the restroom, because nobody's allowed to leave here until this match is finished."

Big mistake. "Have _you _gone? I'm sure that you'll soil your pants before long in fear…"

The entire bleachers- The ones who were Falkner's disciples and such- immediately yelled "Quiet!"

Of course, not that Ziri would let that go. "Make me! Fools!"

The hot one who Ziri had previously cowered from raised a hand and slapped in the back of his head. "Oww!" he whined. "What was that for-?"

"For making the situation worse than it already is!" came the snappish reply.

The wolf-whistling, predictably, began- But that was when Ziri, deciding that, after going through the flirty chick in the Contest Hall and the… stuff along the way, to throw the rock that he had pocketed outside.

It sailed, not at them, because then Ziri would be instantly indicted on murder charges, but above them- Barely above them, anyway, so that it went _thud _on the wall right above one trainer's spiky hair. Well, it went _through _the hair, actually, but who cared.

Silence, while Ziri innocently walked into one of the two marked chalk boxes on one end of the field, obviously having been reserved for this kind of match today. Blinking, Alex joined him on the other box.

Ziri inwardly groaned, knowing exactly what Falkner and his lackeys were thinking:

_This is guy is __**really **__good with the girls_.

"There are things called bleachers, guys," he said offhandedly behind him. Getting the message, they walked up, settling themselves on the metal seats.

Well, Urya wasn't settled; he yelled, "Ziri, kick his ass!"

Everyone in the place gave him a dirty look, especially Falkner. Well, almost everyone save Ziri who hid a smile before changing his look to one of polite indifference.

The ref took his place in the middle of the battlefield (While taking a wary glance at the now abashed Varacei "Urya" Alger to see if he was going to spew more garbage) and shouted "This battle is between Zirienji Axlhedron of New Bark Town with Alessandra Cesarini of Pallet Town versus Falkner, the Gym Leader of Violet City. Each side will use four Pokemon in total- The two challengers will use two each."

"Send out your Pokemon!"

"Aipom, you're up!" Ziri shouted, throwing up the sphere. Whirling, it almost touched the ceiling before it burst open, sending forth the small purple simian.

Who promptly ran backwards behind her owner.

Ziri groaned as it wrapped itself around his neck. "What, you don't want two in a row?"

It shook its head. Ziri sighed. "Well, stick around right now, okay? Maybe- Gah! Don't- Strangling- Gurk-"

Everyone looked away as the tail wrapped itself around his neck.

When they were certain that he'd gone into asphyxiation, they looked over, but his Aipom was dangled on his shoulder innocently, while Ziri was coughing silently.

"Hey, Alex, can you go already?"

"Uh, okay," she mumbled, before sending out Dark.

"And that leaves me," Ziri grumbled. "Cyndaquil, flame on!" he yelled, throwing the ball high, just like Aipom's ball.

In a flash of light, the Fire Mouse Pokemon popped out, and immediately flared his back in a show of force.

Falkner took one look at the two Pokemon, and snickered. "I'll need one minute for the two of you," he said arrogantly, and threw two Pokeballs up, shouting "Go! Pidgey and Starly!"

The same two Pokemon from the morning popped out, and Alex and Ziri simultaneously got out their Pokedexes. Immediately, both chimed "**Starly, the Starling Pokemon. Although its body is small, its wings are strong for its size. It is usually found in flocks**."

_Lucky we're not dealing with a flock of them right now… _

The referee raised his flags. "Cyndaquil and Eevee versus Starly and Pidgey. Begin!"

"Cyndaquil, Swift!" Ziri called out immediately. The stars flew outwards, angling themselves towards their targets-

"Pidgey, use Gust! Starly, stay back but use Quick Attack when the stars are gone!"

The wind held up the Swift before it dispersed (Ziri was getting tired of not being able to shoot someone through the wind now) and then the Starly became a blur.

"Dark, Sand-Attack and then Quick Attack!"

The sand flew directly into the path of the black-and-white blur, which didn't stop in time. The Starly slowed into focus, squawking and waving its wings in an attempt to get its eyes cleared. Well, the job was done by someone else- Painfully.

The Eevee crashed into it, and the sand was shaken loose from its eyes. Getting up, woozy-

"Pidgey, Quick Attack-!"

"Gotcha! Swift!"

Although the Pidgey flew fast, it didn't fly fast enough to evade the Swift, where every star hit dead- As in dead- On.

"Dark, Tackle!" The Eevee dived at the Starly, just getting back to its senses, sending the Starling Pokemon tumbling.

"Starly, get up and use Growl!" Falkner shouted, seething at his apparent inability to land any real blows on his opponents. And now, even this last-ditch effort was meaningless-

"Cyndaquil, Ember!"

The bolts of fire smashed into the Starly, whose feathers began smoking. "Now! Change the target to the Pidgey! Alex," he called, "Cover me!"

She blinked, before calling for a Quick Attack on the Starly as the Pidgey, who was now only getting up was mercilessly pounded by fireballs. Falkner was having none of it- "Dodge with Quick Attack and hit the Cyndaquil!"

"Cyndaquil, use your own Quick Attack!" The bird flapped its wings became a blur, but as it neared the echidna it too became a blur, forcing a pursuit across the battlefield.

A sudden idea hit Alex; "Dark, Helping Hand!"

Suddenly, orbs flew out of the glowing Eevee, which somehow caught up with ease to Cyndaquil and were absorbed. Now, the Cyndaquil became nothing more than a blue-black streak as its speed was nearly doubled by this sudden boost.

Ziri blinked; then, realizing exactly what Helping Hand meant, and that the Starly which had been catching up had now lost the race of speed, yelled "Cyndaquil, turn around and use Swift!"

The blur that was his partner became slightly more distinct, but that didn't stop it from launching stars that were both bigger- And, as it happened, much faster. The stars bashed into the Starly, dropping it into a heap of twitching feathers.

"The Eevee's still helpless!" Falkner shouted in realization. "Pidgey, use Gust!" The winds whipped up buoyed the unwary fox into the air, when it crashed into a wall and bounced off, whimpering.

"Like I'd not pay back what I owe!" Ziri snapped. "Cyndaquil, another Swift-!"

"Use Gust!"

"Sidestep around the Gust with Quick Attack!"

The Pidgey had annoyed him too long- It was time to get unorthodox. The Swift, reduced to their normal size now that the effects of Helping Hand wore off, were buffeted by the wind and sent flying away, but the blur that was Cyndaquil was not. It crashed into the unguarded flank of the Pidgey, this time sending it bouncing in the wall at a slight angle, but walls are walls. Without waiting, Ziri called "Seal its fate with another Ember!"

It had not yet stopped when it launched the Ember, but perhaps it was a good thing, as the Starly had just recovered and now missed the Cyndaquil by centimeters. Once again, another Pokemon crashed into a wall, but now…

"Dark, Tackle!" The Pidgey, now trying to get away in a panic from the flames, missed seeing the recovered Eevee, which slammed into its form. With a squawk, it thrashed around in the dirt, before it fainted.

The referee raised his flag, pointing at Falkner's side. "Pidgey is unable to battle. Withdraw and substitute, please!"

And there came a murmur through the bleachers; apparently, nobody had anticipated such an early knockout on the Gym Leader's side. But, the much smaller number of spectators on the side of the challengers only shook their heads in amusement, while Urya wildly cheered "That's the way to do it!" he yelled, stomping his seat. "Just do it more- Ugh!"

That was Ragnarok whacking his arm to shut him up.

Falkner was shaking with both anger and surprise at the sudden loss- Things were suddenly looking a lot less rosy. He considered sending out his trump card, but that could remain for now- No, he'd rather take them out quietly or at least, if it came to it, soften the opposition…

"Go, Pidgeotto!"

The large, fancily plumed bird appeared, and raised its wings in a show of force. Ziri was unruffled; he had seen bigger Pokemon than this, like Norman's Machoke and how it had tried to smash him into a pulp, while Alex looked nervous.

"It's the evolved form of the bird that we just thrashed," Ziri said lazily. "Easy."

The non-committal tone slightly relaxed her nerves. But…

"Cyndaquil, return!"

The echidna became red energy before he was sucked within the confines of the sphere. Ziri placed it in his belt, before prodding his Aipom. "C'mon," he coaxed gently, "Get onto it!"

It shook its head, still not in a mood of battle.

"An Oran berry?"

She shook her head again. "A Pokeblock?"

She perked up at this. "Ai?"

Instead of elaborating, Ziri just picked out the sweet flavored ones that he'd made, and popped one into her mouth.

Upon entering, she chewed with a curious expression on her face.

Silence. And silence. And more silence.

Just as Ziri was about to call it quits and send out Togepi for good measure…

"AIAIAIPOMAIPOMAI!"

Ziri winced as his ears were mangled by the sudden outpouring of sound, as Aipom jumped off his shoulder and began doing the hyperactive dance.

* * *

"What the _hell _did Ziri put in those Pokeblocks?" Hannah wondered aloud.

"Lots of sugar?" Urya suggested obviously.

Gale glared at him. "You can't add sugar when you make Pokeblocks, kid."

"You're not much older than me!"

"Both of you shut up! Now!"

They did.

* * *

As Ziri tried backing away from the various waving of the tail, the disc that he pocketed but forgotten to take a look at fell out of his pocket. As it tumbled, the tail that Ziri had been wildly swinging caught it on one of its fingers, and Aipom suddenly stopped, a look of curiosity crossing over her face.

"Ai?" it inquired as it slung the disc over its head and caught it.

And that's when it started glowing. Both the disc and Pokemon glowed a soft gold, which caused Ziri to look away since he was so close- But caused everyone else to look in fascination. After all, it wasn't _their _Pokemon that was oddly glowing…

From the stands, Urya blinked in surprise. "Isn't that the disc-?"

And then the glow vanished, leaving behind no trace that the glow had ever been there save for the fact…

That the disc was gone.

Ziri blinked once, twice, then thrice and punched himself in the face to make sure he was not hallucinating. Yes, he was most certainly not hallucinating. The disc was gone.

Now, his Aipom turned and scampered off, limbs still blurs from the overdose Pokeblock that he had fed it, onto the field.

"Um," the referee said, not quite sure of what to do with this hyperactive Pokemon, but he went ahead anyway. "Begin!"

Ziri opened his mouth for an order, but it never got farther than his throat before his Aipom did something strange. Suddenly, it was glowing red, and rapidly chattering "AiAiAipomAi!" while dancing around, waving its tail at the Pidgeotto.

Translation of Poketalk:

"_You couldn't get me in a million years if you had them! You're jealous because I have this awesome tail and all you have are those scrawny wings and that stupid piece of hair running down your back-_"

"Pidgeooooo?!?!"

Translation: "_WHAT DID YOU SAY????_"

The red glow faded, and suddenly, even though nothing had been ordered, the Pidgeotto charged forward at an incredible speed dead at Aipom. The Long Tail Pokemon only laughed at this show of rage, before hopping daintily out of the way, still not down from her high.

The Pidgeotto passed within three inches of Ziri, making him yelp in surprise; before he could yell at his Aipom, he heard a rather loud _wham _that shook the wall behind him.

He slowly looked behind to behold that the Pidgeotto had faceplanted itself against the wall, and had not yet gotten up.

Whipping out his Pokedex, he was responded by the chime of "**Swagger, a normal-type move that enrages a foe so much, it makes their strength rise from their attempts to attack the user but also confuses them.**"

Ziri paled while in the background he was mildly aware of Falkner angrily yelling out for his Pidgeotto to get a hold of itself- If another of those hit, then it would be instant game over.

But, now Ziri saw the other side of the coin- If Aipom could keep dodging, then it would hurt itself so much that he wouldn't have to order a single move from Aipom…

_Oh, well, _Ziri thought, _I guess I'll just make sure that it goes down faster. _

Aloud he yelled, "Aipom, Swift!"

Aipom quickly responded; with a flick of its glowing tail she spammed the Pidgeotto with the rain of stars that caused, if possible, the Pidgeotto to become further enraged. Suddenly, it got to its feet and blasted forward again- Ziri now had the sense to duck as it passed.

Again, Aipom dodged, and so the bird now had its head stuck in the dirt. "Pidgeotto!" Falkner was roaring, "Listen to me, now-!"

"Its head's in the sand, idiot!" Ziri managed to choke out, since he was now laughing so hard he was doubling over.

* * *

"That disc is evil," Urya remarked.

"Are you kidding?" Hannah said sarcastically. "That's just another evil move to add to the arsenal of what his Aipom knows. Remember Tickle?" she finished, directing the question at Gale.

His response was to glare at her and turn his attention back to the battle, while Hannah giggled madly.

* * *

Alex was obviously confused at this odd turn of events, but if it was helpless, head buried in sand, then all was fine. "Dark, Tackle!" she called confidently, not knowing the fact that to get close here was something borderline suicide.

Ziri blinked. "No, get out of there-!"

Too late; the Tackle attack had dislodged the Pidgeotto. Falkner wasted no time in shouting "Wing Attack, Pidgeotto! Starly, use Quick Attack on the Aipom!"

The first part worked.

Bad for them, good for him. Wings glowing, the Pidgeotto whirled around, and though it looked as if it was busy thrashing around uselessly, the Eevee was too close. It was clipped by a wing and sent an extraordinarily far distance, bouncing around the ground.

"Ouch," Ziri muttered. In a louder voice he called "Aipom, Tickle!"

Obviously, Falkner's second set of orders did not work.

The Starly that had been coming from the side was not missed; one swipe of the tail across its chest and it fell over, squawking in what was obviously mirth. When it finished tumbling across the dirt Aipom leaped over and continued the unconventional assault, resulting in the nasty sound of a Starly laughing echoing through the gym.

* * *

"I _knew _it had to happen," Gale mumbled.

"Are you joking? That's the original Evil Move of Doom," Hannah said through rolled eyes.

"But what about the Eevee?" Urya asked, referring to the nasty hit that Dark had taken from the Wing Attack.

Silence.

"It's over for it," Gale said simply.

* * *

He was slightly off, but otherwise correct; the Eevee's time was almost up. Alex was busy trying to coax it to stand, but even she knew that it was more or less of a lost cause. Even though Blaze and Light were trying to cheer it, it kept standing- And falling- over and over again.

It was luck that the Pidgeotto was still confused, bashing itself on the ground and with its own wings- Otherwise, its follow up instantly would have defeated Dark. But Pokemon remain confused for only so long, so time was almost up.

"C'mon, Dark!" Alex begged. "You can do it! Just stand up!" The only reason that the ref hadn't instantly called the KO was because Dark was still struggling to get up, where he had succeeded- And failed- repeatedly.

"Last call!" The ref barked. "If you're Eevee can't stand up longer than three seconds, the next time it stands and falls I'll call the knockout!"

Alex glared at the ref, but in her heart she knew it was true.

But the words emboldened her Pokemon; now he was struggling wildly, and his forelimbs shivered, before he shoved himself up with his hindquarters.

The crowd cheered at this feat, even Falkner's own lackeys (Who did it with some reluctance). The word had spread around town that some random gang of kids was beating the crap out of Falkner; so, some fifty extra people now mobbed the stands while half the town was at the door.

"Dark, now!" Alex cried, knowing that this was likely to be its last move. "Use…"

"Sand-Attack!"

Half the occupants of the gym looked at her in utter disbelief, but the meaning of the attack soon became clear. The sand that was weakly thrown up blasted the Pidgeotto in the eyes while it was still downed- Now, in addition to the confusion (Which was wearing off anyway) it had extra to thrash about.

Dark swayed once, twice, thrice, four times, and fell over.

The ref took one look, and made the call: "Eevee is unable to battle! Withdraw and substitute, please!"

Alex sighed as she returned the fallen Eevee to his Pokeball. "You did good," she said softly.

The two Pokemon sitting by the sidelines perked up; but then Alex threw a Pokeball she already had.

"Go, Pidgey!"

Ziri turned around, slack-jawed, as she sent out the most disobedient Pokemon that he had even seen.

The Pidgey squawked, flapping its wings to take flight, and then entire crowd started murmuring.

Was she trying to beat Falkner at his own game?

"What the heck are you doing?" Ziri growled. "You know that thing won't-?"

"Don't worry."

Ziri blinked, but grudgingly turned back to the battle. "Fine, sign your own death warrant and mine," he said under his breath.

"Pidgey and Aipom versus Starly and Pidgeotto. Begin!"

"Pidgey, use Whirlwind!"

Ziri and Falkner alike were surprised by the sudden drive in Alex's voice, but what surprised Falkner more was the sudden, spiraling wind that drove back both his Pokemon into the wall right behind him.

A weak flap of the wings, and the Starly was downed- But Ziri added his own ingredient to the assault. "Swift!" he yelled. The stars flew in the wake of the wind, smacking the Pidgeotto dead between the eyes.

Everyone in the gym knew that was something of a one-in-a-hundred hit, but the Pidgeotto was knocked out anyway- Even the ref was stunned. "Um… Pidgeotto and Starly are unable to battle! Please send out your last Pokemon!"

_Last Pokemon. _

The crowd roared as they realized that these two brats had forced Falkner onto his knees with one Pokemon left to send out. That was the rules- Four versus four. Ziri and Alex had defeated three- Falkner was on the ropes.

But why did Ziri now have a bad feeling about this fact?

Falkner seemed to have read Ziri's mind, for he had a thin smile on his face as he gripped his last Pokeball of the match.

"Go, Fearow!"

And Ziri groaned.

_Oh, crap. _

* * *

Gale blinked twice, and then shook his head. In dismay.

"What wrong?" Urya inquired, as the massive bird with a huge beak appeared, cawing loudly to general applause.

"That bird," Gale said quietly, "is Falkner's strongest Pokemon."

"What?" Urya said, aghast. But his mood changed quickly. "But they've got three Pokemon to one! What can he-"

"Watch."

* * *

Ziri couldn't help but shiver as he remembered yesterday's battle that he had witnessed between that unknown trainer and Falkner. That bird was so powerful, it had even overpowered the Magnemite, though steel and electric types should have called a victory…

Or was it that trainer's arrogance that had led him to not notice the plight of his Pokemon? Whatever, he wouldn't fall for that.

"Aipom, err… Swagger-!"

"Aerial Ace!"

Ziri groaned as the lightning fast attack that had been seared into his memory yesterday reappeared before his eyes. "Aipom!" he shouted, as the simian was thrown back, "Use Swift!"

"I don't think so! Drill Peck!"

"Try this! Gust!"

The three-way melee resulted in this: One, the spinning motion of the Fearow resulted in the stars of the Swift being scattered; Two, the spinning now resulted in a charge at Aipom; but three, the Gust blew it off course.

The Fearow barely managed to keep itself from repeating another head-in-the-sand incident as it banked up. Nodding a quick thanks to Alex, Ziri yelled "Latch on to the beak with your tail!"

Aipom scampered up to the unsuspecting Fearow and then, to the shock of all, threw itself upwards in a front flip. The flip was more than for show- The flip now resulted in the tail being stretched to its farthest point…

Barely enough to snag the beak shut. As the Gym was filled with the sounds of muffled squawking, Aipom just swung there as the Fearow flew wildly around, the trademark grin acting as a taunt to Falkner.

"Fearow, use Drill Peck!" Falkner seethed. "Then, follow with Aerial Ace-!"

"Pidgey, Quick Attack! Stop the spinning!"

It wasn't the first time Alex had saved his hide today, but he got the feeling that it wouldn't be the last, or so Ziri thought. The small bird crashed into the side of the Fearow's head, instantly causing it to break its concentration. "Fury Swipes on the underside!" Ziri called.

The storm of scratches caused a massive amount of discomfort that sent the bird into wild thrashing through the air, resulting in it crashing into a wall. _Too many crashes today_ was the collective thought of all combatants. "Fearow! Use Assurance!" Falkner shouted.

Ziri had no idea what that was, but suddenly the Fearow was now glowing in a nasty purple light and violently throwing Aipom around. Ziri was sure that there was no way it could hang on much longer with all that movement, so he yelled "Tickle!"

The arms of his Aipom suddenly blurred even faster as it swung up to the underside, and now the Fearow was trying to open its mouth to laugh. The hand on the tail could take only so much- With a howl of pain, Aipom let go, but at least it took down the Fearow as well; in its mirth its wings seized up, sending it into the ground in a dusty cloud and the sound of a muffled _thump_.

"Aipom, you okay!?" Ziri called, worried.

A few, seizure inducing seconds passed, and his Aipom bounded out of the dust. Although battered and dirty, she looked fine, grin in place.

Behind her however, the Fearow rose in anger, and Aipom felt the brush of the wind.

"Fury Attack."

Now it was leaning backwards, and Ziri remembered the Magnemite and how it had been taken down pretty much with this attack. "Aipom, move!" he shouted.

She wasn't moving. Suddenly, he remembered she was timid- And now, with this gigantic winged figure in front of her, she stiffened, paralyzed in fear.

"Aipom, move! C'mon!" he yelled again, but to no avail.

The furious blows struck, and he had to turn away. Although Alex tried to help with a Whirlwind, all Falkner ordered was to blast through it with Drill Peck, both breaking through and sending her Pidgey into a wild spin as it passed; and when it passed, it banked to the right and around and crashed dead into Aipom, beak-first.

Ziri heard the soft thump, and knew that it was over for her.

"Aipom is unable to battle. Please send out your final Pokemon!"

Ziri returned Aipom, letting out a long breath, and looked at the Pokeball. "You did incredible," he said softly. "I'm not letting what you did go down the drain." Replacing the sphere on his belt…

"Cyndaquil, one more time!" he yelled, and his last hope appeared in a flash of light, flames blazing.

The crowd collectively "ohhhhed" since a lot of them had seen his Cyndaquil use Blaze yesterday. At least that helped- Ziri felt his spirits lift slightly, before he said, quietly, "Make or break time." In a louder voice, he shouted "Ember!"

The flames blasted out; Falkner instantly countered with a call of "Drill Peck!" As the Fearow reared its head back-

"Gust!" The winds blasted outwards-

"Change target! Go through the Gust and hit that Pidgey!" The spinning proceeded to break through yet again; as it whirled forth…

"Not so fast! Quick Attack!"

The body of Ziri's partner crashed into the spinning wings and was promptly thwacked away- But at the very least, the velocity changed enough so that the Pidgey could barely get out of the way.

Ziri breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing a shaky thanks from Alex; _I'm not being unappreciated here… _

"Swift!" Ziri yelled. The stars shot out, but-

"Again! Drill Peck through!"

Ziri viciously cursed as the stars bounced off, and called for a hop-over dodge which worked- Barely. How was he supposed to attack it? He knew Quick Attacking meant nothing in a Drill Peck, Swift would bounce off, and Ember would just be snuffed. He couldn't even do a Smokescreen to hide Cyndaquil, since the smoke would be siphoned off…

In other words, he had nothing to work with here, and he couldn't even confuse it now that Aipom was knocked out…

_What can I-? _

And then he remembered how the Pidgeotto had gotten stuck in the dirt floor a long time ago…

_Oh. _

"Cyndaquil, trash talk it!" Ziri yelled, praying it would work.

"CyndaCyndaquilQuil!"

Translation: "_I heard that your mother disowned you because of that dumb beak of yours!_"

"Fear!? Fearow! Feeeeaarow!"

Translation: "_What!? Come here and get speared on this beak, maggot!_"

And then, without Falkner's order, it suddenly went forward, jabbing its beak in a Fury Attack. "Cyndaquil, get away! Quick Attack!"

As it was busy chasing Cyndaquil around, Ziri got another idea. "Zigzag!"

Now the blur that was his Pokemon became jagged as it weaved right, left, right, left, over and over. "Fearow, Drill Peck!" Falkner shouted, not realizing what this was.

"Alex, don't do _anything_!" Ziri snapped, as he watched his plan unfold.

* * *

"What's Ziri doing?" Hannah wondered in disbelief as they watched. "That thing is catching up, and it'll be all over!"

"That's not the only thing going on," Both Urya and Gale chimed.

Hannah blinked, as did all the spectators from within a five foot radius. "What?"

"Look at the Fearow's speed. It's starting to drop!" Urya said. "See? It's trying to chase the Cyndaquil on the path it took, and it's beginning to tire!"

"But it's still going strong," she said worriedly, as now the Fearow increased its speed to compensate for earlier.

"Not for long. It'll tire soon enough, and then it'll be wide open…" Gale's voice trailed off, because everyone knew what would come next.

* * *

The Fearow was right above Cyndaquil, and now he knew perfectly what he had to do.

"Cyndaquil, stop!" Ziri ordered. The echidna complied, and now the Fearow overshot its prey, before coming to a stop.

"Are you insane!?" Alex yelled, but Ziri didn't heed her concern. Falkner however, was jubilant.

"If he wants to lose, then let him lose!" he declared. "Fearow, finish it! Drill Peck!"

The spinning, and now it dived.

Perfect.

"Cyndaquil, move aside with Quick Attack!" he yelled, praying Falkner didn't get it early and abort the attempt.

He didn't. The Fearow blasted through the dirt, all the way up its beak and was promptly stuck. The crowd roared and was promptly silenced by a glance from the enraged Falkner. "Get out of there!" he shouted, eyes bulging. "Get out! You can't let yourself get beaten by-"

"Cyndaquil, finish it! Ember!"

Now the flames reignited to rain bolts of flame upon the stuck form of the Fearow. A muffled series of squawks were heard as the feathers began to smoke and blacken; nobody now disputed that it was well and truly screwed.

Well, not truly, anyway…

Ziri noticed the bird, in its desperation, began wiggling its beak from side to side, and was beset by his own panic. "More!" Ziri called, "Don't stop now!"

The barrage continued, but now Ziri realized that by continuing the barrage he was also further panicking the bird and the rate of wiggling increased.

And then it was free, rising into the air.

Ziri groaned and hung his head.

"Crap."

But it wasn't over then. "Now, Fearow!" Falkner ordered. "Assurance!"

Ziri recalled the attack earlier had created the purple aura. Well now, the aura fueled a sudden rush of the massive bird's body, which over and over again battered his Cyndaquil before Alex called "Whirlwind!"

The winds forced the Fearow to crash into a wall, and it would be the last time, because now the Fearow looked at its smaller cousin with malice.

The message was clear- _That's the last time, punk. _

Ziri was officially screwed. As he watched the unfolding aerial battle, he knew that it was hopeless- Cyndaquil had no way of attacking the Fearow. Falkner wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, and that Assurance move- That thing did double the damage if it even got anything close to hurt for a few seconds beforehand. He had checked the, after all. He watched Alex's Pidgey try to duke it out with its larger opponent in the sky, but in addition to the size it also had strength and matching speed, despite its injuries prior. Sooner or later, it would get hit by that demonic Drill Peck, and it would be all over…

If there was a way to combine Ember, a move to burn the opponent, and Tackle, something to slam into the opponent with-

His Cyndaquil, which had been watching the battle above in frustration, its back snuffed out of fire, suddenly stood up and charged. "Cyndaquil, wait-!" Ziri began, before he noticed that in addition to running forward its back was also ablaze…

_Did he hear me mentally? _Ziri thought, bewildered, as the charge continued.

"So it wants more, eh?" Falkner laughed, not realizing anything out of the ordinary. "Fearow, drive that Pidgey away with Fury Attack and finish the job with Drill Peck!"

Alex's Pidgey squawked as it retreated to a safe distance, away from the wicked rapidly-stabbing beak. Now the Fearow turned to its most frustrating foe, relishing a chance to take it out-

It, however, panicked when it noticed the flames. What was going on? That thought was echoed in everyone's mind.

Suddenly, Cyndaquil sprung its back upwards into the air, making Ziri think that it was going to use its back as the point of attack- Which might result in its back being broken. As Ziri again opened his mouth to this time order it to stop, the intention of his partner became clear.

It was not using the back to attack because of the flames; rather was using the flames to do something else entirely. The flames had remained blazing on its back; now as Cyndaquil performed a complete front flip, everyone saw that the flames had "traced" the arc of the flip and so "stuck" with the blue-black fireproof skin of the Cyndaquil. Another revolution, and now…

The entire body of the Fire Mouse Pokemon was encased in a literal wheel of revolving flames. And it was rolling, faster and faster-

Although the Fearow remembered the orders to do the Drill Peck, it had no time before the attack struck, the body of its opponent crashing into its chest, and now it had the odd sensation of behind winded- And burned.

Falkner watched in disbelief as his prized Pokemon was sent flying by that little Fire Mouse, crashing into a heap on the floor. The Gym went dead silent, as the flames covering the Pokemon dispersed into nothing, though the spines remained blazing.

Ziri's shaking hand went unconsciously to his Pokedex.

"**Flame Wheel**," it chimed, and the voice resounded through the Gym. "**The user encases itself in flames and charges the foe at high speed. The flames may seriously burn the opponent.**"

At the last part, all heads inside the Gym simultaneously swiveled towards the Fearow, where the red mark on the feathers literally began spreading before their eyes. As if to further make the point, the Fearow began to thrash in pain but now Ziri had no care in the world besides finishing off his unlucky opponent.

"So, Cyndaquil," Ziri said lightly, "Wanna put it out of its misery?"

His best friend nodded.

"Then let's finish this! Flame Wheel!"

Everyone winced collectively as the final burning charge sent the Fearow into the wall, where it slid down with one final weak squawk and fell in an unmoving heap.

The referee raised his flags immediately. "Fearow is unable to battle. This match goes to Zirienji Axlhedron and Alessandra Cesarini!"

The Gym exploded in sound, and though it all Ziri's ears were oddly ringing, though not from the noise.

_I did it. I beat him. I've gotten the badge in the bag. _

_And the first mile in a thousand..._

_

* * *

_**Hope everyone enjoyed this. This took me two days to write, but I would have posted it yesterday had the site not had a seizure and stopped everyone from logging in. Bah! **

**Gale and Urya get their badges next. Stay tuned!**

**Remember to review!! Please!!!!**


	12. How to save your own life from a mob

**I'm sorry to everyone that it took me a week to update, but life has been literal and metaphorical hell. The first week of school had me writing two essays, doing five tests, and now I've got a quiz on Monday. So, his story will now be published on a weekly basis, which I know must suck- But, life sucks for me and there's always the looming juggernaut of AP Biology, even though I'm just a sophmore. Oh well, what the hell... **

**I know this chapter may seem rushed, but I wanted to update before this week ended, so bear with me here. **

**Disclaimer: SEE THE FIRST... No, the second chapter for the disclaimer. No words wasted here. **

**EDIT: 08/20/09, revision of battle. Same plotline, but the battle will be different. Oh well. **

**Happy reading!**

* * *

Falkner still looked like he couldn't believe his eyes, but he slowly began to register, with disbelief, his defeat at Ziri's hands. Ever so slowly he raised the Pokeball without saying anything and returned his defeated Pokemon to its sphere; then he looked up. "You win," he said hollowly.

Ziri couldn't help but feel bad for the guy, who had been knocked down from his perch rather harshly- By two people younger than him. For heaven's sake, they hadn't even evolved _any _of our Pokemon yet, and here he was, being forced to accept the fact that he had quite simply lost.

Alex had jumped up and hugged Ziri so hard that for a second he thought that Aipom had come out of her Pokeball and yet again wrapped her tail around his neck; but on second thought, it was only a pesky human. He manhandled her off, snarling something about "overzealous females" and walked across the battlefield to where Falkner was standing.

"Nice battle," he said, and held out his hand while his Cyndaquil clutched his head to stop itself from falling off.

Falkner looked at the hand in front of him.

Then, he slowly took something from his pocket, placed it in his hand, and then took the handshake, while Ziri felt something press into his hand.

Falkner let go, and when he did Ziri looked down and saw a small piece of metal glinting in the light, looking like a pair of wings taking flight.

"Congratulations," Falkner said quietly, "You and her won the Zephyr Badge."

And beneath the disbelief and anger at losing, Ziri saw the congratulations in his eyes, and realized that there were two badges he was holding. He clenched his hand, feeling the metal press deep into his palm, and said, "You know I'm not forgetting this."

"Because?"

He grinned. "You have the distinct honor of being the stepping stone where I put everything on from now on."

He narrowed his eyes. "Don't push your luck-"

"I know, just saying. I'm high right now, you know."

And he turned, and Falkner somehow felt the rage and disappointment of the defeat fade, as his victorious opponent walked slowly back to his end of the battlefield, his smile reflecting in everyone's eyes. But more than that was the feeling of peace that radiated from him, and Falkner now felt no desire to call for a rematch of sorts. No desire at all.

* * *

The gang of five all walked out, congratulating the victorious two. Urya attempted to strange Ziri, like Alex, but in the dive missed and crashed into the ground, groaning while Ragnarok just looked down and shook its head in amusement. Gale only said a quiet congratulations before he turned away, and Hannah…

Well, she was busy thinking about the Contest two days from now. Seeing the battle made her think of the battle rounds, and she had gulped in utter and absolute fear at realizing that she sucked at battling, period. She had two Pokemon to compete with, unlike those coordinators who had pretty much a full six, and even worse she had no experience.

She had no idea that Alex would have had the same kind of internal nervous breakdown if she wasn't so high from winning the Gym battle and admiring the badge she had won…

* * *

The next day, Alex had the breakdown. The moment she woke up, in the room where all five bunked together with, she screamed in utter and total terror.

Ziri and Urya, of course, were out (Ziri had woken up at six and, this time making sure that he wasn't tripping on big metal floating cylinders, ran for the training fields, this time actually checking the signs, and Urya had woken at seven and followed Ziri out to their now-usual training spot.

Alex had woken up at eight and promptly screamed in fear.

Gale and Hannah woke up instantly. "What!?" Hannah yelled while Gale hopped down from bed as Blaze, Light, and Dark all frolicked around their master in panic.

"Thank you for making us think that you were being assaulted," Gale grumbled.

Alex, not hearing _anything _anyone was saying, was busy blabbering "OhmigoshtheContestistomorrowwhatamIgoingtodo-"

"Quiet!" Hannah snapped. "Don't you think that _I've _gone through it!?"

"But- But-"

"So? Do you think you're alone in this?"

Gale snuck out, clearly unable to handle the girlfight.

"I really think I'll tear my hair out dealing with all this screaming-"

Alex calmed down. "But- Don't you feel any panic?"

"I was panicked yesterday, right after your and Ziri's battle, but that passed already. Well, most of it. But you have to deal with _both _the Gyms and Contests, so that's your fault."

Alex was stung. "Hey!"

Hannah sighed. "I'm only dealing with Contests, okay? I've gotten some practice in, but it not enough to stop me from having a nervous breakdown tomorrow. I don't even have a contest dress!"

Alex blinked. "Oh, I do-"

Hannah stared at her. "_What_?"

She quickly brought out the white, sleeveless dress with a ribbon, and Hannah then fainted.

* * *

Ziri came back with Urya undisheveled (No wrestling matches today) and instantly saw Hannah's head on the table. "What did she do, knock herself out?" Ziri asked, secretly hoping for her to share the pain that the female members of the troupe often made him endure.

She looked up, glaring at Ziri. "Not in your dreams."

Urya immediately stepped back, but Ziri blinked upon realizing that she was crying. So he did something no other boy in Hannah Rangzeski's life had done when she was this distraught- He walked over and took a seat next to her.

She was so shocked she could only look at him, he jaw loose. He rolled his eyes, before asking "Okay, so what the heck is going on?"

She blinked, and then realized that her tears were visible, so she quickly wiped them down. "I'm so-"

"Screwed?" Ziri asked, an eyebrow raised. "That's my line, you know."

She slapped him, causing him to go "Oww! What was that for?"

"For trying to cheer me up in the most stupidest of ways."

"Which is-?"

"Sitting next to me. You're the first person to ever do that, you know?"

Ziri blinked. "You mean, when you're this cranky from whatever that I don't know yet or something, nobody even comes within five feet of you?"

"Pretty much…"

"Want me to get away from you?"

She looked at those steel gray eyes that had somehow didn't have any coldness to them now, and instead asked "Why are you always so kind?"

"Because mercy is the thing that the world always has in short supply. So, answer the question."

_Mercy is the thing that the world always has in short supply… _

"Not really," she mumbled. "It's just that the Contest is tomorrow, and I don't have a dress…"

Ziri looked at her critically. "Is that _all _you're worried about?"

"No!... Well, mostly… It's just that I barely have any training done, and I'm thinking about what happens if anyone there has more experience and better Pokemon than me…"

"Don't worry about the dress; you look fine already."

"What!?" Hannah shrieked, though she somehow impossibly kept her voice down. "You've- You've been checking me out-!?"

"Do I look like the kind of boy to you? And from what I do, do you think I'm like that kind of boy? You know, around girls and trees…"

Hannah sighed. "Not really… But do you really mean that-?"

"Look," Ziri began, "From what I know about Contests and what girls wear, it's all competition to reveal the most skin without actually being kicked out on indecency charges."

The entire Pokemon Center was silent as it processed this analysis of Pokemon Contests. Ziri, noticing, whispered "You don't have a dress to do that, but heck, you've got the chest and the hips to do some suggestive work. I mean, for god's sake you make men have nosebleeds wearing one, that skimpy blouse, two, those ultra-slim jeans, and three, those damn sandal high heels!"

With that, he stood up and walked to get breakfast.

* * *

Alex never heard Ziri's opinion of Contests. Well, she didn't hear it in _person, _but there were so many people flooding into the cafeteria after Ziri walked in that it was physically impossible for her to avoid hearing about it.

"That guy… He'd be the best bit of eye-candy in Contests in years… But he has such a terrible opinion of them!"

"I know, did you hear his voice?"

"The tone made them seem like a crime…"

Alex sat, stone-faced when Ziri plopped down in front of her, with only a half-filled tray and a yawn. "What's up with you? Contest jitters?"

Alex dived immediately into the question. "What exactly were you saying about Contests?"

Ziri blinked as he drank the soup via the bowl, not the spoon. "Huh?"

"You were saying something about Contests, right…?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Say everything you said. Now."

Ziri drew back slightly at this authoritative tone. "Uh… Are you going to threaten me now?"

"I'll take off my skirt."

Ziri paled, though he did not realize she simply possessed running shorts beneath the skirt. "Please don't."

"I'll do it here then."

Ziri now looked like he was dying of fright.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk!" he groaned, panicked.

"Good," Alex said sweetly, but at that moment Hannah came and sat at their table.

"Help me," Ziri pleaded, as Hannah raised an eyebrow at his expression.

"With what exactly?"

"Get Alex off my back!"

"About what?"

"You know… What I said back there!"

"Oh… _That _comment."

"What comment? What did he say?"

"I'm not telling."

Ziri grabbed her hand and kissed it.

Nobody saw it thankfully, but Hannah's cheeks now had a pink tinge to them as she punched him out cold.

"And I think I'll steal your breakfast," she said pointedly.

Well, someone did see it, but just the rest of the members of the gang of five, and they all either looked away, embarrassed (Urya and Gale), or had a pink tint on their cheeks like Hannah (Just Alex). "You're seriously not telling?" she asked.

"Nope." And with that, she dragged his plate to her side and began eating.

* * *

When he had woken up and finished whining about his stolen breakfast (Which he stopped upon Gale irritably suggesting he just get it again, but when he got it back he started up again) they finally got together back in the room to talk. In desperation.

"I need help," Alex babbled, "I'm nothing at appeals! If I could-"

In another corner Hannah was busy moaning "If I battle I'll instantly be crushed, I have no way of winning at all-"

Ziri raised his hands in the air hopelessly. "Will you guys be quiet? You guys are like the opposite sides of the same coin, and we don't do Contests anyway, geez!"

The two glared daggers at him, making him look wildly around for his male counterparts to bail him out; but all he saw was a slowly swinging door and he knew instantly that he'd been ditched, to fend for himself. "Bastards," he mumbled before he turned back to them. "What do you want me to do?"

"Help me," the two said in unison. Now the two were glaring at each other, before they whipped their heads at him.

"No, don't help her, help me!" they both yelled.

Ziri groaned. These two…

Girl trouble was too much of a kind term.

"Stop yelling!" he shouted above them, and at the very least the noise died down, but not the hostility between the two; usually getting together very well and sometimes even conspiring against Ziri, now they looked nothing short of throttling each other.

"Okay," he grumbled, as the light bulb to an idea flicked on, "What happens if I help both of you out-"

"But that makes it biased since you have to help someone first!" Hannah quickly objected.

"And he's going to help me!" Alex trilled angrily. "Right-!?"

"-together?"

That instantly shut them both up as they pondered the possibilities. Sensing their concentration and therefore resistance was shattered, he pressed on his advantage. "I mean, if I help both of you guys out then neither of you can complain about me favoring one of you, and I can't be blamed if either of you guys screw up because I'll just say you were too busy glaring at each other to practice and I'm a witness."

"But… But, we'll see each other's strategies," Hannah said weakly, but Ziri quickly improvised a response.

"Duh, but because both of you guys see each other's tactics, then it won't be one sided and at the worst it'll be a stalemate when it comes down to it!"

The consenting was over in three seconds before he grabbed both of them and marched them out.

Into a living nightmare.

* * *

Gale and Urya had fled Ziri to deal with his own girl problems- The pair was running for the Gym now, dodging morning traffic and idiot pedestrians.

"Think he'll do the same thing as yesterday?" Urya panted as he ran.

"I think so," Gale responded, also in a raspy voice from running. Neither had Ziri's endurance, so they were only keeping up an on-and-off jog at odd intervals. "Falkner would look like a chicken for not taking a second challenge, but…" he stopped, putting his hands on his knees. "He could change it to make it one on one this time…"

"Ziri pretty much won it by himself in the last few seconds yesterday," Urya pointed out, also stopping to take a brief rest.

"But what happened before that?"

"Oh."

* * *

As soon as the gang of three left the Pokemon Center, they were assaulted by _her._

The same person that had made Hannah's blood boil yesterday was now in front of her, blinking twice at the sight of Ziri accompanied by two girls. Ziri was completely frozen in fear of what was next; Alex looked curiously at her but said nothing.

"Hello… person," Hannah spat, and made to drag Ziri off away from this disgusting woman.

Not that her opponent would let that pass. She stopped the unceremonious drag-off with a staunch positioning of her body in Hannah's path, and said gloweringly "Don't you have manners to show off in front of your boyfriend-?"

Ziri and Alex instantly cowered, though Ziri had difficulty, being dragged by the arm- And he knew that since he being held on to her, it wouldn't make a difference…

"WHAT?" she shrieked in fury, and dragging Ziri she stalked up to Synthia and jabbed her finger in her face. "One, _I am not his boyfriend_! Two, you just want him to be _your _boyfriend! Three, even if he was slightly more romantic he'd choose me because you are a disgusting-"

"Stop it right there!" Synthia screeched. "Do you think that you'd win over me? Have you been checked out lately-?"

"As a matter of fact, I haven't but it's obvious that I'm-"

"I beg to differ!"

The two glared at each other with enough malice to cause flowers to wither; and since Ziri was in too close proximity for comfort, he was busy trying not to wither himself. "Now," Hannah huffed, "I'll be getting away from you now-"

"Oh-ho, trying to get him for yourself!?"

"What-?! I'm not- Ask _her_!"

She jabbed a finger at the openmouthed Alex, who immediately clammed up at this accusation.

"Well?" Synthia snapped, marching over and staring at her critically. "What're you going to do? Huh? Huh?"

"I'm… I'm not doing anything!"

"Ha!" Hannah blinked as a finger stopped an inch from her nose. "Obviously it's just you-"

"I have had _enough_!"

With that, Ziri whacked Hannah's shoulder, causing her to let him go with a yelp, and blur-ran away.

The three girls and the thin crowd that had gathered staggered from the wake of the wind that he had created, and blinked at each other before rushing after him. Only the three.

Ziri finally stopped at the training fields, realizing that there was nobody occupying it. If they actually had common sense they'd come here, but only Alex had seen this place and she had been pretty much fainting all the way here.

But five minutes later as he lounged on the grass, he heard two- Not three- screams of "ZIRI!"

Sure enough, there was Hannah and Alex. Ziri remembered the incident in front of Mr. Pokemon's house, and finding the similarity he quickly stood up. "What?"

"Not _again_!" Hannah gasped. "You left us behind, just like-"

"When we left Cherrygrove!" Alex finished. "You promised to help, so then you _ditch _us-?"

"I was trying to get away from that weird person!" he quickly defended himself. "I mean, you guys would have never gotten away from her on your own, so I had to make a distraction!"

"Ditching us was _distraction_-?"

"Well, where the heck is she now?!"

Silence as they looked at each other and back at Ziri. "Well, that's true…" Alex said grudgingly.

"So," Ziri said, quickly mowing over the incident, "This is the place. How do you like it?"

For the first time, Hannah truly surveyed the fields while Alex had instantly recognized the place from yesterday. "Well, it's pretty good," was Hannah's opinion. Alex concurred in support with a nod.

"So, what're we waiting for?" Ziri said impatiently. "Are you just going to stand there and practice outside the fence?"

* * *

"What?" One of the trainers who guarded the door said in disbelief. "You… You want to repeat the same kind of battle that happened yesterday?"

Gale and Urya were outside the Gym, trying to talk their way in- But as if a security precaution the door was guarded by two dimwitted lackeys. Well, one was, but the other...

"No," he said firmly, "If you're going to come in and challenge our leader, then you'll have to do it one on one."

"What!" Urya whined. "We want to do this in a hurry! Besides, we've never worked together before-"

"The answer is no-"

"Let the man speak for himself, then!" Gale cut in.

The guy snorted. "Why would he talk to you? He'd obviously-"

"He'd obviously _what_?" Gale snapped. "Gym Leaders have to at least hear out their challengers. If you can't then you're in violation of the League rules!"

He made the last part up, but the one blocking their way looked frightened at this possibility and slipped aside to admit them, albeit grudgingly.

"Is that true?" Urya hissed as they walked in.

"I made it up, but it works," Gale murmured back.

They didn't see Falkner in, but as they walked over to the end of the battlefield where only yesterday Alex and Ziri had stood and fought, Falkner came, conversing with two of his students. Immediately, he stopped when he saw them. "Who are you, and why have you come here-? Wait…" His eyes narrowed as he observed Urya. "You're that-"

"Uh, sorry about yesterday," Urya said meekly, remembering the rude comment that he'd made in the opening rounds of the battle. "Uh…"

"Don't worry about it," Falkner said. "I had worse things than that yesterday."

Urya blinked. "Oh, awesome."

A silence followed, which was broken by Gale coughing and saying "Uh, we're here to battle you for the badge…"

"Hey!" Urya punched Gale's arm, saying "He was being nice to us for once, geez!"

"Fine! But sooner or later we'd have to break it out to him-"

"Why couldn't we have done it nicely!?"

"I guess-"

"I accept," Falkner said loudly, and the two turned to him. "I get the feeling since both of you are here, it'll be faster to do things like yesterday… Four-on-four. Is that fine?"

They looked at him, and, hardly believing their luck, nodded. Both gathered in their end of the field, where Ziri and Alex had stood only yesterday, and readied their Pokeballs.

The referee came out, somehow knowing of this upcoming confrontation, and asked for both of their names. Only nodding at their answers, he walked over to the center of the battlefield, and immediately declared "This battle is between the challengers Varacei Alger of Ecruteak City and Gale Harper of Olivine City, and Leader Falkner of Violet City. This will be a four-on-four doubles battle. Please send out your Pokemon!"

"Let's get'em, Ragnarok!" Urya called, and the oddly colored Beldum floated forward.

On his right, Gale shouted "Slowpoke, go!" With a flash of light, the large pink Dopey Pokemon appeared and promptly rolled over, scratching its belly; while Falkner's lackey's hooted in laughter, Gale just stood there, unruffled. "You'll be laughing, oh yeah, when I crush him" he said offhandedly, and the smiles dropped.

Falkner, in the meanwhile, had sent out Pidgey, and…

Urya blinked. "What's that-?"

It looked like a much bigger Starly, like the one from yesterday, but this one also had an elongated, curly crest upon its forehead, and it opened its beak to crow "Staaarrravia!"

"My Starly evolved," Falkner said simply. "It's a very stubborn Pokemon and couldn't handle the loss yesterday, so last night I took it for training and it evolved."

"Oh," Urya finished, blankly, and then it cleared up in his head. "Well, I'll still fight even if it evolved! C'mon, ref!"

The person in question gave him a withering look before raising his flags, calling a quick "Begin!" and scooting backwards.

"Slowpoke, Confusion!" Gale quickly shouted, and the blue aura began forming around the upside-down form of the Dopey Pokemon.

"Pidgey, use Gust! Staravia, go into it and use Wing Attack!"

The winds blasted forth, buoying along the Staravia with it- With a cry, it charged forward, with glowing wings-

Only to be stopped suddenly, the negative acceleration causing it some pain as it squawked its discomfort. The blue aura now surrounded it, signifying it was in the clutches of Confusion; now, Urya took a chance and shouted "Ragnarok, use Take Down!"

Suddenly drawing back, the Iron Ball Pokemon then blasted forward in a reckless head-on charge that smashed into the floating, flailing bird and blasted it free of the Confusion.

"Staravia, don't let it get to you!" Falkner shouted. "Use Endeavor! Pidgey, use Quick Attack!"

Both birds charged; Gale and Urya shot each other a look before turning back. "Ragnarok, Take Down from above!" Urya shouted.

"Slowpoke, use Confusion to lift yourself out of the way at the last second!"

The Staravia was shocked at the sight of the metal cylinder's height above the ground, now a good ten feet up, but kept going. The reckless charge of the Beldum sent both Pokemon flying backwards, with the Staravia seeming to be worse off.

The Pidgey fared no better- It crashed into the sand, its cry of discomfort masked by the dirt that got into its stubby beak. Gale blinked, before he got a grin on his face.

"Stop using Confusion!" Gale called confidently, but then turned away, suddenly feeling rather sick.

The Slowpoke obliged, and seconds later, a muffled thump, a mild vocal sound of curiosity and then a muffled squawk of mass discomfort and finally Slowpoke rolled over, moaning as his belly, showing, was covered in red marks. The Pidgey was halfway jammed in the dust, wildly jabbing its beak into empty air.

Gale closed his eyes, hands going to his temples, Urya looked away, silently wanting to throw up at the thought of being crushed under the belly of a Slowpoke, and Ragnarok slowly floated away, twitching slightly at the sight. Falkner was staring at the battlefield, slack-jawed, and even the referee was struck dumb by this odd turn of events, at least for the next fifteen seconds- When he had recovered his voice and the rather angry Pidgey had finally realized it was free, he was quavering; "Shall we continue?"

* * *

Ziri went back into the Contest Hall, while first looking out for the weird chick from yesterday. All he wanted to do was to get in some more Pokeblocks into his case, which was now half-full from his creation binge yesterday. And no, she wasn't in, which was a relief. Letting out a breath that had been unconsciously held inside, he walked in, making sure to keep a low profile…

Well, it failed. Miserably.

Half the people in there instantly turned their heads towards him when he came in, and all the girls simultaneously jumped forward in a massive group hug.

Not if Ziri could help it- In an instant he'd stepped backwards, letting the human mass crash to earth, their objective failed. They slammed into the ground, amid shrieks, groans, snarls, and screeches, while Ziri avoided the glaring eyes of the males and found the closest berry blender. Starting it up and placing a plethora of berries in, he took a quick look around, only to realize that one of the receptionists was slyly walking up to him. "Excuse me," she said sweetly, "Can I help you?"

"Uh, no," he said quickly, "Just passing by-"

"May I see your Pokegear please?"

Impulsively, he asked "Why would I-?"

Before he could react, she had sidled up beside him and swiped his Pokegear. Before he could open his mouth, the mob of girls dived at him and he was forced to hightail it around the Contest Hall, yelping as he weaved around unfortunate people that became crushed by the mob. In the meantime, the attendant snuck back to the desk and registered him; the moment she was done was the moment the blender stopped with a resounding _ding_.

Ziri, who had been leading the one-track mind mob around, allowed the blender to shoot the results into his set-up case, but took a detour and swiped the Pokegear that had been set upon the front desk. He caught sight of the receptionist winking at him, and felt his face heat up slightly, but turned abruptly, swiped the case and got the hell out of there.

Without realizing exactly what had just happened.

* * *

Urya realized that somehow Ragnarok, though having started the battle with full health, was suddenly swaying in mid-air. "Ragnarok, what's wrong-?"

Falkner was laughing. "Endeavor forces your opponent to take enough damage so that their amount of health is reduced to the user's amount of health. My Staravia may have taken more damage, but your Beldum has a chunk of its health taken away in that instant."

Urya groaned, but kept up his poker face. "Whatever! Ragnarok, use Take Down!"

The Iron Ball Pokemon readied itself for the chrage, but Falkner was faster- "Quick Attack, Pidgey!"

Although it did not deal much damage to the Beldum, the blow distracted it long enough for Falkner to order a Wing Attack from Staravia. This attack was slower, but had much more power; as Ragnarok turned, finishing in its chase of the toublesome Pidgey, it was suddenly slammed by the wing which caught it dead on the eye.

The metal cylinder fell, where it began rolling on the floor- Literally- in agony. Falkner opened his mouth to press his advantage-

"Slowpoke, stop them with Water Gun!"

Although it blasted around in a wide arc and therefore wasn't very powerful, it was enough to drive the two startled birds off. "Follow with Yawn!"

Now the Slowpoke lazily opened its mouth, and out came a bubble of purple air that floated towards his foes. Despite Falkner's call for them to move, the Pidgey flapped forward, curious about this odd bubble coming with surprising speed-

The bubble exploded in its face, and suddenly it fell on the ground, going around woozily before it then actually fell asleep, with rather obvious snores.

Yet again, Falkner was struck dumb, before he noticed that the Beldum that earlier had been rolling around in utter agony had floated up and affixed the fallen formof the Pidgey with a one-eyed death glare. Well, with a slightly blood-shot- Or something like that- eye. How were Beldums, when they had no blood, supposed to get bloodshot eyes? Oh well...

Urya had gotten the message, and an evil grin was spreading across his face. Gale got the message. "Float up the Pidgey with Confusion!" he called.

The oblivious bird, still snoring away, was lifted upwards. "Staravia, use another Endeavor on the Slowpoke!" Falkner responded.

The Starling Pokemon again charged forward, and now it crashed into the Slowpoke, whose delayed pain reaction time let Urya call out-

"Take Down!"

The Pidgey was sent flying as the Confusion was let down, finally waking up as it took flight- As Urya ordered one last Take Down in pursuit, Gale groaned at the condition of his Pokemon- Yes, it was wounded badly, and even worse since the Staravia had taken extra damage afterwards since using Endeavor on Ragnarok.

Before Falkner could order something to finish of the moaning Dopey Pokemon, a third Take Down crashed into his Pidgey, sending it tumbling to the ground, feebly twitching. "Pidgey is unable to battle," the referee declared. "Please send out your next Pokemon!"

At that moment, suddenly, Ragnarok dropped to the ground with a thud, its lone eye going in spirals, in addition to the multitude of dents that covered it. "Uh... Beldum is also unable to battle! Please send out your next Pokemon as well!"

This cycle was taking its toll, but Falkner still had some cards to play…

"Go, Pidgeotto!" he shouted. The plumed bird appeared, raising its wings; Urya yet again had another vision of yesterday, but now was not the time to be going down the memory lane when his best friend was hurt.

The oddly colored Beldum became energy as Urya returned it. Patting its Pokeball, he whispered "Take a rest" and pulled out another Pokeball.

"Go, Jackson!" Urya cried, throwing the sphere. And so the angular Virtual Pokemon appeared, chirping loudly.

And literally drinking from the dirt.

Urya's cheeks flushed as the entire battlefield and building resounded in hearty laughter. Even Gale had to chuckle (Though he barely managed to badly mask it as a wet cough). The Porygon thought nothing of this and continue to soil its beak as it jabbed at the ground- Until it used what Urya recognized as Sharpen. If only to get deeper into the ground…

"Can we continue now?" Urya said innocently to the referee, who was busy berating himself for being so distracted yesterday and today.

"Uh, yes… Begin!" he called, trying to make up for the lost time.

"Tackle!" Urya shouted immediately, almost before the referee had finished talking. The Porygon suddenly zoomed forward, taking the Pidgeotto by complete surprise as it was knocked backwards- With some nasty bruises where the sharpened angles of the Porygon had crashed into it.

"Awesome, Jackson! Psybeam!"

The beam flew, and the Pidgeotto, in the midst of angrily squawking and regaining its balance, was hit by the multicolored, shimmering stream of energy. It was thrown further backwards…

Where it then proceeded to begin bashing its head into the ground. Falkner watched, first in shock, then in rage, then resigned disbelief at having the same Pokemon getting confused _twice _in two days. Urya started laughing crazily, while Gale sighed and instructed his Slowpoke to finish off the Staravia, who was busy gawking at the idiot behavior of its partner.

In no time at all, as the Pidgeotto got back to its senses and Urya had finished laughing, the Staravia slammed into the ground and did not move, soaking wet. Falkner groaned; not good.

"Staravia is unable to battle. Please send out your final Pokemon!"

Falkner recalled it with a sigh, and reached for his final Pokemon.

"Fearow, get them!"

The Long Beak Pokemon appeared, cawing loudly, and spotting the two smaller foes it sneered derisively. "_Ready to be eaten for a snack?_" it said.

"_You sure that beak won't drag you down?_" Jackson couldn't help but quip, remembering yesterday's "_I heard your mother disowned you because of that beak of yours!_" comment.

The result: The Fearow turned and affixed the Porygon with the evil eye. "_I've had enough quips about this magnificent beak, thank you very much-_"

"_What beak?_" Slowpoke said, languishing in the ground.

Of course, being a Slowpoke and such, it made that comment out of ignorance, but that wasn't the reason that was going through the Fearow's mind right now. It was thinking of utter ignorance to its pride and joy- So time for heavy duty punishment. Scarcely had the referee called "Begin!" did the Fearow like yesterday charge forward in a Drill Peck-

"Confusion!"

Unlike yesterday, there was now an actual way for them to attack the Fearow with while it was using Drill Peck. Telekinesis, anyone? The Fearow uselessly struggled against the mental bindings, but it failed, miserably, while Urya shouted "Use Psybeam-!"

"Aerial Ace out of it!"

It somehow broke free, despite the squawk of pain as it did so- The Psybeam launched by the Porygon flew awry, hitting the wall in a splash of light before it dispersed. In the process, the Fearow continued on its course, spearing the Slowpoke on its beak. He rolled over, blinking before he gave a groan of pain via the delayed reaction.

"Good! Follow with Fury Attack-!"

"Another Psybeam, Jackson!"

This time the Porygon's aim was true; the splash of multi-colored light caused the Fearow in the midst of jabbing its beak at the rubbery body of Slowpoke to fall back as the light pushed it away. "Don't let that get to you!" Falkner called. "Use Drill Peck!"

Urya tensed, seeing the spiraling motion. "Jackson, run away, but use Psybeam as you do!" The Porygon scooted backwards, firing the Psybeams as it went- But it didn't matter because just like yesterday the spiraling motion simply siphoned off the energy to the sides.

Not if Gale could help it. "Slowpoke, use Confusion!" he shouted. Again, the Fearow stopped dead in midair, but this time Falkner and his Pokemon were ready.

"Aerial Ace out if it, but aim for the Porygon!"

Again it broke free, but since it did so soon there was little to no pain at all from breaking free- None that the pair could see anyway. The Fearow's beak crashed into the angular body of the Virtual Pokemon in a blur, causing a screech of pain as it flew backwards from the impact.

"Jackson, shake it off! Recover!"

Falkner's eyes widened as the large scratch across the Porygon's torso suddenly began to fade as the Pokemon glowed with a soft light. "Stop it! Aerial Ace!"

As the Fearow prepared itself for the charge…

"Water Gun!"

The spray of water smashed into the bird, sending it spiraling away.

Up to now however, Falkner had intentionally ignored his Pidgeotto, but now was the moment. "Pidgeotto, now! Quick Attack!"

The Slowpoke was caught completely unaware- Not just unaware, but _completely_ unaware- of the blur that slammed dead onto its nose. As it groaned and rolled over in pain, Falkner called "Drill Peck!"

Although Urya managed to order a Psybeam, it made no difference- It may have hit the Fearow, but again it was dispersed. The Slowpoke was lifted off the floor, went sailing another ten feet, and came down with a dismal _thud_.

Gale grimaced, recognizing the knockout, and returned it before the referee even opened his mouth.

"Go, Houndour!" he shouted.

The Dark Pokemon popped out, hackles raised at the two birds in front of it. Both of them watched it impassively; the referee raised his flags. "Houndour and Porygon versus Pidgeotto and Fearow, begin!"

Gale decided to take the initiative right then and there; "Use Roar!" he shouted.

The rather small dog-like Pokemon threw its head forward and created a massive air front via sound that sent both birds blasting backwards into the opposite wall. Urya blinked, half in shock and half at the fact that the sound if he had been in front would have beaten his hearing to death, and then regained his senses- But his Porygon was already moving. He opened his mouth to call it to stop, but then decided the getting carried away was not necessarily _bad _here…

Psybeam after Psybeam was launched as the Porygon sped forward; both birds, still disoriented from the nasty impact on the wall, the two stood no chance. Three feet away from the Fearow, Jackson threw itself into a Tackle that yet again pinned it to a wall.

Gale got the idea; "Houndour, Bite!" he shouted.

The Dark Pokemon charged forward, and as the Pidgeotto spread its wings, intending to go back into the air, the jaws closed down its back. As it squawked in panic, flailing to get off this nuisance, Jackson whirled around and Tackled _it_. Although it dislodged the Houndour, the blow sent the Bird Pokemon right into the wall. Again. For the second time.

The Fearow recovered itself, and by Falkner's order threw another Aerial Ace at them- Only to be blown back by another ordered Roar. The Psybeam followed, and this time…

The Fearow now began randomly jabbing at the ground, in obvious confusion. Falkner sighed, and shouted "Pidgeotto, blow the two away with Whirlwind!"

Gale had no time to call for dodging or to counter with another Roar, so the Porygon and the Houndour were thrown all the way to the other edge of the battlefield by the wind. Thankfully, the two managed to grip the ground to avoid faceplanting into the wall like their foes…

"Houndour, Ember at the Fearow!" Gale shouted, sensing an opening.

Urya followed suit. "Use Psybeam!"

The combination of the miniature flames and the stream of multi-colored light was enough to lift the Fearow right off the ground, not unlike the impact from Drill Pecks. As it fell, Falkner, now seriously entertaining the thought of defeat, called "Pidgeotto, use Quick Attack!"

The Pidgeotto zoomed over, crashing into the Porygon; before it could properly retreat, Urya called "Jackson, use Psybeam!"

The now all-too familiar beam of light flew at the retreating Pidgeotto, but it did not strike as the Pidgeotto made a last-minute loop-de-loop, much like Alex's Pidgey. "Spin around and use Gust!" Falkner shouted. His Pokemon obliged, and now the two Pokemon that were together were thrown off their feet, landing with thuds on the floor.

"Crud," Urya mumbled. In a louder voice, he ordered "Recover-"

"Aerial Ace!"

Again, the sheer speed of the blow was enough to send the Porygon crashing into the wall, where its head began lolling around from the impact. Gale countered with a call of "Ember!"

The bolts of flame scorched the feathers of the Pidgeotto, sending it flailing around the battlefield. Its straying led it rather close to its fully comprehending foe, and Gale took the chance- "Houndour, Bite!"

The fangs chomped down on the wing, and Houndour took pleasure in shaking the squawking bird while he was at it, being dragged around. "Use Ember while you're holding it!" Gale ordered.

"Not so fast! Aerial Ace-"

"Throw that bird at it!"

The Pidgeotto was flung at the oncoming bird, despite the fact that the Pidgeotto was one-and-a-half times his size. In shock the Fearow stopped moving, but yet still collided with its battle partner. "Use Ember, now!" Gale shouted, as the two birds fell and began to bicker. Instantly their infighting stopped, as the two flapped to get rid of the flames that sprouted on- and were coming at- them.

"Jackson, Recover!" Urya ordered quietly, and was relieved to see the Porygon's spirit restored as the wounds began to heal. "Now, let's get them! Psybeam again!"

The beam struck the Fearow, and now it reeled backwards, clearly dazed. Gale now called "Roar!"

The two were lifted off their feet and sent crashing into the wall, where they slid down, squawking feebly. Now, Gale and Urya ordered their Pokemon to charge; "Houndour, Bite!" and "Jackson, Tackle!" The two bounded forward, and as their foes raised their heads, they had the nasty sensation of (The Fearow) being bitten or two being thrown backwards from a painful impact (The Pidgeotto).

Falkner tried to pull it back together. "Use Drill Peck!" he shouted. "Pidgeotto, use Sand-Attack!"

The sand flew, although weakly, but it still got into Houndour's eyes (Jackson simply floated there confused thanks to the fact that it didn't actually have eye-sockets). However, the offensive manuever proved more effective, as the spiraling motion sent Houndour sprawling. But the control of the technique was limited, thanks to the fact that it was already so battered and fatigued, so in the process it buried its beak in the sand- Again.

"Houndour, now!" Gale shouted, as, with a pained snarl and difficulty his Houndour stood up, "Bite it!"

"Jackson, use one last Psybeam!" Urya called, as the Pidgeotto twitched.

The jaws clamped around the neck of the Fearow.

The beam slammed into the pody of the Pidgeotto.

One spasmed violently, before it went still.

One flew through the air, though not by its own means, and crashed to the ground, umoving like its comrade.

A few seconds later, the referee raised his flag. "Fearow and Pidgeotto are unable to battle. Therefore, the battle goes to Varacei Alger and Gale Harper!"

Urya whooped, while Ragnarok hooked itself onto his arm, to be waved like a hand. Gale only returned Houndour, saying a quiet "You did good," before putting it away.

Falkner had already walked halfway across the battlefield, shaking his head in disbelief at having lost twice in a row, but his previous defeat had humbled him; there was nothing to say now. He took two badges from his pocket, and held them out, where they were accepted gleefully (Urya) and solemnly (Gale).

"Thanks a lot!" Urya crowed, whirling around and leaping out the door. Gale sighed before he walked out, but very slowly.

* * *

On the other side of town, in the Pokemon Center, with two girls, a boy then checked his Pokegear and screamed.

"**NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!**"

* * *

**AND THAT'S THAT!!!**

**Ick, caps lock is evil. Oh well. Expect another update next week, people... I'm sorry I have to drastically shorten my update times, but life sucks. **

**Remember to review! Please!!**


	13. The author's note, V1

The Author's Note, V.1

I'm writing this to tell you of the schedule I have for writing this story right now. It's also a heads up about life, the previous chapter, and the fact that the last time I updated I didn't manage to find this fic on the front page... WTF?

**Life:** It sucks, like I told everyone. To quote Startix-Master of the NoLess: "Damn the educational system...T^T (vendetta...)" That sums it up perfectly, and I have three more tests on Friday, as if to perfectly complement the statement.

**The previous chapter:** This made me wince, but Aninat131's review made me edit the chapter in order to increase the quality of it- Personally, I felt that it was a difficult chapter to write, and I only managed to finish it via a LOT of perseverance. To quote Lambo from _Reborn!_: "Per... Per... PERSEVERANCE!!!"

At this point, he breaks down crying...

But the point is, I have re-edited the battle, made it longer, and put in some grammar corrections when needed. And I don't think Ziri's been getting out of character... Do you guys think so? Tell me in a review so I can hear everyone out. And for those who want to comment about the previous chapter's edit, post your comments here as well.

And the last part... It's actually a preview of next chapter, people!! Since you're bogged down by this author's note, I just _had _to give you guys extra.

* * *

**Chapter 13: And into the frying pan he goes...**

The next morning, Hannah woke up and looked up blankly- Before like Alex yesterday, she had the breakdown and screamed.

Urya again was out. Gale again was in. Alex was also in again. The last two were officially damned- Well, at least their ears were.

Thirty minutes later, breakfast was finished, amid strange looks at this group of four (Urya had come back, saying in a down voice that he hadn't found Ziri _anywhere_), but for the most part they were ignored, because today after all was the contest- And that only made Hannah and Alex feel worse and worse about how it was going to go.

"You'll be fine!" Urya said cheerily as they walked out. "Me and Gale, we'll be cheering for you- Oww!"

Now he furiously rubbed his arm, mumbling about killjoys and depressing people while Gale determinedly looked on and Ragnarok the oddly-colored Beldum glared at his master's attacker. Hannah and Alex couldn't help but laugh, but there was a tinge of nervousness to their outbursts, and it was short anyway.

Gale sighed. Where was Ziri, the scapegoat to at least get their bad moods off?

Urya: Where was Ziri to lighten up the mood? Painfully or not?

Alex: Where's Ziri to keep our nerves on the line?

Hannah: Where was Ziri to at least help them keep going?

The general theme: Where the heck was Ziri?

Ziri at that moment was on the Contest Hall's roof, busy keeping out an eye for the time.

The schedule, which he had swiped earlier today- Nine-thirty, last time for contestants to enter.

The show started at ten; therefore Ziri made an alarm for nine-twenty-nine on his Pokegear.

It was now nine-fifteen, and now he could spot the dark-flame-red hair that signaled from a mile away that Hannah was in. And there was Urya, with the weirdly-colored Beldum of doom, Blaze the Charmander sat on Alex's shoulder, and Gale… Well, was being Gale, slinking behind.

Ziri sighed. Nothing he could do now but wait.

Nine-thirty, and the doors closed behind them in the waiting room. Alex had changed into her Contest dress, and Hannah was feeling slightly left out upon realizing that the vast majority of people had special clothes that you'd never find anywhere else.

But wasn't this a Contest?

"Alright," came a voice, and Hannah snapped out of her observations to look at the female announce. "Let me take roll call here…"

"Zirienji Axlhedron?"

Silence, as she looked around, trying to find the hand raised that should have been there- But it wasn't. The announcer sighed. "Well, then he'll go last, if he's not here…"

"Alessandra Cesarini?"

Alex raised her hand, slightly shaking.

It went on. "Hannah Rangzeski?" The hand went up, and the announcer nodded.

And then it went to…

"May Maple?"

Hannah's, Alex's, and pretty much everyone else's eyes snapped to the lavishly dressed Queen of Hoenn. "Here," she said, a bit bashfully from all the attention that she was getting- But Hannah felt instantly ashamed, because May in contrast to the general jitters of most of the contestants was not nervous at all.

She tried steeling her nerves as role call was finished; but the attempt failed, miserably.

Where was Ziri, anyway…?

* * *

After two more lackluster performances, by people obviously intimidated by the performance of the Princess of Hoenn before them, Ziri was ready to die of pure boredom. When the heck was going to be his turn? Wasn't now the final event-?

Suddenly, from the far left of the hall where he sat, opposite from where Urya and Gale were seated (The far right), he realized that the announcer was suddenly talking to the judges, and they seemed to be in the midst of a heated discussion. Now, the entire audience took notice, and whispers floated through the entire hall. Knowing his time was near, Ziri slipped out of his seat and positioned himself at the very end of the nearest aisle, where he got on all four limbs. Speed was needed for what he had in mind next.

* * *

"What _are _they doing?" Urya grumbled impatiently. "And where the hell is Ziri?"

Gale just shook his head.

* * *

In the waiting room, everyone was just as confused. "Shouldn't there be a sixteenth person?" May said worriedly.

"The announcer said that he'll go last," Alex said, and Hannah noticed a hard edge to her voice.

"But," May said, gesturing towards the general population of the room, "Where is he, anyway?"

* * *

On the stage, soon to be battlefield if things went well, the announcer and the three judges seemed to have come to a decision. "And now," she announced, though Ziri detected an uncertain tone in her voice and so tensed his own muscles. "Let's welcome the final contestant here today…"

The crowd waited, with bated breath.

* * *

Gale and Urya tensed, realizing that Ziri's time was near.

Hannah raised her head upwards, for the first time in five minutes, to look at the screens. Alex was also staring, as was everyone else.

* * *

"Zirienji Axlhedron-!"

Ziri bolted, as in blur-running, towards the stage.

* * *

"What's that-" Alex began, noticing a blur on the corner of the monitors, but there was no time to say anything else on the subject in the next few seconds.

* * *

Blur-running involved pushing himself to the limit. Or breaking them down, Ziri had once mused to himself, when he timed himself and realized that he could travel a mile in some thirty seconds this way.

What was fifty feet of carpeted floor between two horizontal columns of seats to him?

He reached within ten feet of the stage, and here was the tricky part- The stage was six feet up the floor, to give the crowd a better look at what went on. But that meant leaping on leg power would be useless.

So he jump-dived forward, and landed in a handstand on the floor, making sure to half-collapse his elbow. This was exactly like using Blaze the Charmander's head as a footstool, save one thing- He had no footstool and only the floor.

Not that it actually mattered, because then Ziri shoved himself off the floor with all the power his previously bent and now stiff arm could muster, and the ground gave up possession of his being.


	14. And into the frying pan he goes

**Ick. That's all I can say for the second week of school. AP World History is a bitch, Precal isn't that much better, AP Biology is a bright spot, Music Tech is dreadful, and Chinese... Nobody needs to know. Bah.**

**I worked extra hard to keep up my schedule, despite my edits and updates earlier this week, so this may have some errors in it. Tell me, and I will instantly repair- I don't read over my chapters much, so be vigilant and review!! **

**Disclaimer: See second chapter. No words here. **

**Happy Reading!**

* * *

When the jubilant (One very _expressive_ and one rather uncomfortable with the other but still jubilant) pair walked back into the Pokemon Center, they noticed a large, gaping hole in the crowd of inhabitants.

A certain sandy-haired boy and two girls were at the very center, the girls trying to console him while the boy kept mumbling things and on occasion banging his head against the table. The two boys walked in to the circle, internally groaning at having to deal with yet again another bit of Ziri's low self-esteem; "What happened now?" Urya asked tiredly.

"Um," Hannah said, timidly as to not disturb Ziri's moaning form, "He just found out he's going to have to enter the Contest tomorrow-"

Gale's mouth dropped, while Urya simply fainted. "_What_?" came the exclamation as Ziri looked up and gave the three that were conscious a death glare.

"You think it was my fault that I got myself into this mess?" he snarled, before putting his head back down, and groaning "I'm going to die tomorrow, and it's all that damn receptionist's fault…"

Hannah blinked. "But I thought yesterday was the last day to-"

At that moment a wild-eyed man shot through the Pokemon Center. "There's one spot left for the Contest!" he hollered. "I just got word, like, thirty minutes ago-"

Ziri raised his head off the table and yelled "I was registered for it by some ditzy receptionist, dumbass!"

And his head fell back down.

The entire center staring at him, while his mumbling was only audible to the three besides him (Urya was still out cold). At once, murmuring broke out through the building, along the lines of "I knew that his words would come back to haunt him!" and "Wow, the same person who said the things only a few hours ago…"

Hannah looked down pityingly at Ziri, but couldn't resist a smug smile. "Tomorrow, make sure you forfeit the appeals, okay?" she said sweetly, and marched out…

Only to trip over Ziri's backpack which had been thrown down upon him learning his fate tomorrow.

She fell on her knees, crying out at the harsh impact, while Ziri only raised his head and laughed rather cruelly. "Ouch," he said sarcastically, "Karma bites hard, doesn't it?"

She whirled around in rage and tried to stalk over and knock him unconscious, but yet again Ziri's bag, almost as if placed there by design, hindered her effort and made her fall- On the same knee. Once she was finished yelping in pain, she looked up to Ziri's taunting expression. "Want to try again? Maybe you'll break your knee at the rate you're going…"

"I'll get you tomorrow," she said through gritted teeth as she got up, "I swear I'll get you!"

"Sweet dreams, bitch. Did you ever notice how every attempt you make to kill me has failed miserably and later you have to get me to bail you? Huh?"

"You've got no right to talk to her like that-" Alex began angrily, but Ziri simply interjected.

"Screw her and screw you. Do you think I would care about your opinion in this situation? If you do then you have the official classification of nitwit, imbecile, bonehead, idiot-"

Alex snarled in rage and jumped at him…

But Ziri had seen too many of these maneuvers in his all too long childhood to be surprised or to have the instinct to step back, especially since he was sitting down. His left side was facing Alex and the rest; therefore his left hand shot out and crashed into her upper stomach in a flat-handed blow that send her flying backwards, the breath flying out of her lungs too fast to have let her shout in pain.

She crashed to the ground, and writhed there, clutching her stomach while Ziri watched impassively. The crowd gasped at this heavy-handedness and began edging away from the table where he sat with his head lying there. The Nurse Joy quickly came out from behind her desk, accompanied by a Chansey, and examined her worriedly; when she looked up, her face was filled with surprise.

"She wasn't in pain," she said to everyone, noting that only seconds earlier her thrashing had stopped. "She was just… Just suffering the sensation of being unable to breathe…"

Hannah blinked, when it hit her.

_The solar plexus… _

He had struck it perfectly. There was no doubt- The look in his eyes said it all.

_If anyone tries anything else, I'll hit about five times harder and then some. _

The diagnosis- He was in the mood to kill, and with accuracy and power like that…

Suddenly, he stood up, and not even stopping to grab his backpack which he did in a walk-by, stepped out of the Pokemon Center.

* * *

Ziri didn't stop until he reached the training field, now his favorite haunt. It was now noontime, the sun beating down on his head, so he let all his Pokemon out and walked under the tree where yesterday morning, he had spied on Falkner…

He sat with his back against the trunk.

And he began slamming his head again and again against it, with every syllable punctuated by the self-inflicted punishment.

"I-" _Wham _"Am-" _Wham_ "An" _Wham _"Idi-" _Wham _"Ot."

He repeated this three times, and when he finally stopped he felt the wetness running slowly down his neck and he quickly lay down. If any care existed in the world that Zirienji Axlhedron would always obey…

He would _not _get his favorite shirt wet with blood!

As he lay there, with his Pokemon worriedly gripping a part of him (Even Togepi was looking slightly worried), he began his thoughts. "How stupid am I?"

"I hate being drafted for anything that I don't want. I hate it, I absolutely hate it. But I'm in it, so I have to keep going."

"But I hate this, being forced to take part in something that I shouldn't. I swore a long time ago to never let people influence what I am and what I have to do. But here I am, now being forced to compete in something I _hate_!"

He yelled the last part so loud that his Pokemon all cowered, but with that outburst he calmed down. "It's not like it'll kill me…"

"But why do I always have to have people shove me into paths I never want?"

"Or," he mused, looking at the argument from another direction…

"Am I just too scared? I never wanted to be a trainer," Ziri said thoughtfully, and his Pokemon drew back, fearing that he would release them…

"But my mother told me to get a license, if only to get me out of my hell hole of a home town… I guess that's good. That's why I got a license so late, you know," he added, turning to Cyndaquil in particular. "I would have never met you if I had gotten my first Pokemon on my tenth birthday…"

His Cyndaquil looked offended at the notion, and squealed indignantly "CyndaCyndaQuil!"

"I know that you think I'd never choose anyone but you, and you're my best friend," Ziri said thoughtfully while Aipom looked angry at the comment and hopped onto his chest, chattering its rage. "Hey, calm down! You're my friend too…"

"No," Ziri corrected himself, "You're not friends."

"You're family."

They all looked at him, stunned. Togepi was first to speak up with a confused "Togepiiii?"

"Seriously. You guys… You're like brothers and sisters to me, the ones that I never had but I wish I did. You guys are better than any human besides my mother that came into my life. I'd shoot myself before I give you away, you know?"

They looked at him, expressions blank, and then they threw themselves at him, prompting him to sputter as he tried to break their grips of iron. "Garg- Get off- Owww- Hey- Dang it- Choking- Gurk-"

Five minutes later, after much wrestling, laughing, chattering, squealing, chirping, and good-natured swearing, he sat up, wiping the dried blood off the back of his neck.

"C'mon, guys," and he jogged to the gate.

* * *

Four hours later Ziri called it quits, tired, uncertain about tomorrow, most certainly dreading it, but definitely feeling an improvement over noontime- Which still hit him like a punch to the gut, the kind that sickened you for hours afterwards.

Four hours. It was working quite well.

As he sat in a café in the better part of town, trying to lie low (But failing), he kept having to listen to the loud suggestive comments that the girls kept passing as they walked by all too many times than physically possible for those who just dropped by into a café for a quick sip of coffee.

At that moment, he was sipping a cup of lukewarm jasmine tea, which was always his favorite type of drink (Coffee was too bitter for his tastes) and trying to melt into his chair.

"Man, life _sucks_," Ziri mumbled, only to himself. He was already missing the gang, because at the very least they gave him a sort of shield around him.

It was three days since they had given him that shield, and now he was already feeling too exposed for comfort.

Afar, while Ziri was too busy drowning himself in his own guilt and general insecurity, Synthia Renata was watching him with something of a pitying look.

She, of course, had no clue what was going through his head, but she got a good enough picture watching him trying to disappear into his chair and watching the women walk past him with the loud, suggestive voices.

One: He was uncomfortable in his own skin.

Two: He hated crowds. He hated them like the plague, but apparently…

Three: He had never had any true friends in his life- None that she could see, but at the very least no human friends.

She sighed. She pitied him, but what could she do? He had terrible, horrible, atrocious social skills, and besides, she was someone that he had learned to avoid whenever possible.

There was nothing she could do. Pushing herself off the wall and slipping on her sunglasses, she walked away.

* * *

The next morning, Hannah woke up and looked up blankly- Before like Alex yesterday, she had the breakdown and screamed.

Urya again was out. Gale again was in. Alex was also in again. The last two were officially damned- Well, at least their ears were.

Thirty minutes later, breakfast was finished, amid strange looks at this group of four (Urya had come back, saying in a down voice that he hadn't found Ziri _anywhere_), but for the most part they were ignored, because today after all was the contest- And that only made Hannah and Alex feel worse and worse about how it was going to go.

"You'll be fine!" Urya said cheerily as they walked out. "Me and Gale, we'll be cheering for you- Oww!"

Now he furiously rubbed his arm, mumbling about killjoys and depressing people while Gale determinedly looked on and Ragnarok the oddly-colored Beldum glared at his master's attacker. Hannah and Alex couldn't help but laugh, but there was a tinge of nervousness to their outbursts, and it was short anyway.

Gale sighed. Where was Ziri, the scapegoat to at least get their bad moods off?

Urya: Where was Ziri to lighten up the mood? Painfully or not? To give the encouragement if possible?

Alex: Where's Ziri to keep our nerves on the line?

Hannah: Where was Ziri to at least help them keep going? And to help her deal with her rage by being the punching bag?

The general theme: Where the heck was Ziri?

* * *

Ziri at that moment was on the Contest Hall's roof, busy keeping out an eye for the time.

The schedule, which he had swiped earlier today- Nine-thirty, last time for contestants to enter.

The show started at ten; therefore Ziri made an alarm for nine-twenty-nine on his Pokegear.

It was now nine-fifteen, and now he could spot the dark-flame-red hair that signaled from a mile away that Hannah was in. And there was Urya, with the weirdly-colored Beldum of doom, Blaze the Charmander sat on Alex's shoulder, and Gale… Well, was being Gale, slinking behind.

Ziri sighed. Nothing he could do now but wait.

* * *

Nine-thirty, and the doors closed behind them in the waiting room. Alex had changed into her Contest dress, and Hannah was feeling slightly left out upon realizing that the vast majority of people had special clothes that you'd never find anywhere else.

But wasn't this a Contest?

"Alright," came a voice, and Hannah snapped out of her observations to look at the female announce. "Let me take roll call here…"

"Zirienji Axlhedron?"

Silence, as she looked around, trying to find the hand raised that should have been there- But it wasn't. The announcer sighed. "Well, then he'll go last, if he's not here…"

"Alessandra Cesarini?"

Alex raised her hand, slightly shaking.

It went on. "Hannah Rangzeski?" The hand went up, and the announcer nodded.

And then it went to…

"May Maple?"

Hannah's, Alex's, and pretty much everyone else's eyes snapped to the lavishly dressed Queen of Hoenn. "Here," she said, a bit bashfully from all the attention that she was getting- But Hannah felt instantly ashamed, because May in contrast to the general jitters of most of the contestants was not nervous at all.

She tried steeling her nerves as roll call was finished; but the attempt failed, miserably.

Where was Ziri, anyway…?

* * *

Ziri had been standing outside the door, listening intently. Well, he was. As soon as it was all done he bolted for the crowd seats; he had nothing to fear, as long as he went last. If he would have been disqualified, then he would have jumped in, said his name and taken a seat. But no, he had lucked out quite well.

All that was left was to wait.

Alex's appeal had gone rather well- She had commanded Light the Eevee to use Quick Attack in a circle _and _used Swift, so that the stars that flew were caught in the mini-whirlwind that had formed. They spiraled upwards where they sprayed outwards in a literal "sprinkler" of stars.

The score: Eight, seven, seven. Grand total of twenty two.

As she skipped back to the waiting room, feeling elation, Hannah said a quick "Congrats," before she turned away. May, who was in the room as well, nodded appreciatively before looking at the next appeal…

Ziri wanted to say a word of congratulations, but he was stuck in the crowd. No such luck.

After a rather interesting performance, as in the combination of Fire Spin and Confuse Ray by a Ninetails, he looked away.

Time to remember what exactly he had planned…

* * *

Hannah now was up- As she walked onto the stage to somewhat muted applause (The men were all wolf-whistling), she looked determinedly on, and shouted "Go, Flora!"

The Chikorita appeared, and the crowd applauded louder this time as the popular looked around, basking in the attention. "Chika!" she cried, raising a leg in response to the ovation.

The guise of what she was about to do was simple; Alex had an idea of what was going on, but…

"Flora, Razor Leaf!"

The flurry of leaves flew upwards, like they'd rehearsed last night; now came…

"Vine Whip! Whack them out of the air!"

As ordered, the leaves stopped the spinning motion. Now, Hannah called "Balance them!"

Like dinner plates, the falling leaves that were flapping in the air were snagged, and then thrown up in some semi-balance of order. Before they could fall, the vines reached up…

And like a waiter- A _really _long-limbed waiter, they all were balanced there like dinner plates. The crowd took three seconds- A full three seconds, the longest span of time in Hannah's lifetime, before they filled the hall with applause and cheering- No real wolf-whistling here.

Smiling, she returned Flora, who looked abashed by the attention and pretty much skipped back to the waiting room, which was technically impossible with two-and-a-half in heels- And promptly feel over a broom an inattentive janitor had chosen to leave there right outside the waiting room. She finished cursing and rubbing her knees the moment her hand reached the door, and she hobbled in-

To reveal a standing ovation, though it was short as another competitor quickly left the door Hannah had open, murmuring "Nice" in the process.

Hannah managed to hide the limp long enough to take a seat next to the smiling Alex. "How'd you think?" she whispered.

"Not bad, and you left before they gave you your scores…"

"Oh."

The room shared a quiet laugh as Hannah burned bright red with embarrassment. At least, until someone told her that she'd gotten two seven-and-a-half decisions and one seven.

"That ties me with you, right?" Hannah wondered aloud as they watched the appeal via the installed monitors on the ceiling.

"Yep, and right now we're the two top contenders" Alex began when suddenly she stopped, her face changing expression to one of total annoyance. "Oh, great. _Her_."

Like Hannah, Synthia Renata didn't have a Contest outfit, but her counterpart knew that she'd have no trouble having the men in the crowd slavishly gawk at her. "I don't like to be referred to as a pronoun," she said snippishly. "So how about you refer to me as my actual name?"

"Why would we?" Hannah spoke up this time. "You won't refer to us by our names-"

"You two are wallflowers, after all-"

Hannah jumped up, but tripped over Light, who was taking a nap. The Eevee yelped as it flew forward, rudely awakened, smacking Synthia in her face; Hannah fell this time on her side and lay there, groaning with pain.

The entire room was silent, while Alex ran over, picked up the whimpering Light and gave both girls dirty looks before sitting down.

The buzzer sounded: "**May Maple**," came the mechanical voice.

Quickly, the queen of Hoenn got up, gave a nervous smile to all, and walked with amazing calmness out the door.

Immediately, everyone turned to watch the monitors, as the Queen of Hoenn came out to thunderous applause.

* * *

Ziri had enthusiastically applauded for Alex and Hannah, but he couldn't for May Maple of Petalburg City, since she fit with his definition of Contests and girls. What that meant was: What the _hell _was with that dress?! Her midriff was exposed, and he could see pretty much all the men the crowd paying a _lot _of attention to the skin of that area…

"Go, Glaceon!"

The Fresh Snow Pokemon appeared in a flash of white light, and there was enthusiastic applause for the rare Pokemon. Ziri quickly took out his Pokedex, and turned it down- Though it wasn't actually necessary, given that the crowd was already so ridiculously loud…

"**Glaceon, the Fresh Snow Pokemon. By controlling its body temperature, it can create a diamond-dust flurry. It can completely freeze its fur to make its hair stand up like needles.**"

Ziri put away the Pokedex just as the cheers had died down, and settled down to watch as May made her move. "Glaceon, use Ice Beam!"

Opening its mouth, it sent forward bolts of a cold blue light, which upon hitting the ground suddenly created a massive, glittering piece of ice. Now, May called "Iron Tail!"

_Is she splitting that thing in half?_ Ziri wondered as the Glaceon charged, tail glowing.

* * *

"Aww, I like Glaceons," Urya whined from where they watched, on the other side of the seating area.

"I know you do, but-" Gale began irritably,

"See? Even Yuki likes them!" Urya exclaimed, as the Eevee popped out, watching the performance with dazzled eyes.

* * *

No, she wasn't going to shoot for something as crude as that. Instead, the Glaceon instead went for a glancing blow… And more, and more, and more.

Ziri blinked, as he realized _exactly _what was being created here.

She was making a damned sculpture!

And what else, when the Glaceon stopped moving, the blur of light blue condensing into a clear image of the Pokemon, would the sculpture had been but of a Glaceon- A perfect replication of the one that had just finished carving it. As the now dimmed tail flicked in pleasure at the enthusiastic applause, Ziri's eyes turned to the judges, who were pushing in their scores…

Nine. Nine. And another nine. In total, a good twenty-seven points. May Maple left the stage with a smile on her face, accompanied by her happy Glaceon and followed by the thundering cheers of her many fans.

* * *

Everyone watched the performance with silence, as the prospect of being completely beaten down by a massive twenty-six fell onto everyone's mind. Hannah felt slightly sick, but at the very least, she and Alex had good twenty-twos…

"That's an okay performance," Synthia said dryly, "But of course, I can do better…"

"Shut it," Alex snapped, nettled. "Say it when you've proved it!"

"I have, unaware one." And with that, she pulled out what the two recognized as a Ribbon case, and revealed to them one ribbon, glittering within.

That instantly shut them both up, as they both gaped at her. "You… You're the one who won the Cherrygrove Contest?" Hannah said in a whisper.

"Obviously, fool," she said snippishly. "Which means I'm more senior than you… Oh, and my turn's up," she added as the door opened and in came May. Standing up, she walked through and shut the door behind her.

For once, Hannah had nothing to say.

* * *

"And now, please welcome our next contestant… The previous winner of the Cherrygrove City Pokemon Contest, Synthia Renata!"

There was quite a bit of applause- And some wolf-whistling (Though somewhat less than her significantly more voluptuous rival) as well. She walked to the center, smiling and blowing kisses to the crowd.

The cheers died down; now for the main event. Taking out her Pokeball, she threw it up, shouting "Let's get the show on the road, Meowth!"

The Scratch Cat appeared, and now mewed cutely to the crowd. Some of the women in the audience _ohhhed _their affinity for such a cute Pokemon, but that wasn't all.

"Go, Meowth!" she called. "Pay Day!"

Suddenly, the air was filled with a barrage of coins rather similar to the one on its forehead. "Now follow up with Shockwave!"

Immediately, with a mewing cry, the Scratch Cat sent a bolt of electricity outwards, sending voltage coursing through all the coins. Now, everyone saw the point of this demonstration: The coins were all arranged in the shape…

Of a Pokeball, complete with the smaller circle in the center and the line interrupted extending from its side. The bluish bolts of electricity ran its course, and now the hall shook with the force of hundreds of people cheering.

The judges gave their scores so fast, that Ziri wondered if they had already decided on them beforehand.

Nine. Nine. Eight. Yet again, another twenty-seven.

Hannah felt cold. No, it wasn't the air conditioner was turned on too high, it was rather the sheer amount of fear she felt.

She didn't know what to do anymore. She didn't even care if Ziri was missing, she was going to humiliate herself before long, and that was even if she got into the battle rounds. There was no way she could compare…

* * *

After two more lackluster performances, by people obviously intimidated by the performance of the Princess of Hoenn and the previous one, all before them, Ziri was ready to die of pure boredom. When the heck was going to be his turn-?

Suddenly, from the far left of the hall where he sat, opposite from where Urya and Gale were seated (The far right, but not that he knew that), he realized that the announcer was suddenly talking to the judges, and they seemed to be in the midst of a heated discussion. Now, the entire audience took notice, and whispers floated through the entire hall. Knowing his time was near, Ziri slipped out of his seat and positioned himself at the very end of the nearest aisle, where he got on all four limbs, much like a sprinter. Speed was needed for what he had in mind next.

* * *

"What _are _they doing?" Urya grumbled impatiently. "And where the hell is Ziri?"

Gale just shook his head.

* * *

In the waiting room, everyone was just as confused. "Shouldn't there be a sixteenth person?" May said worriedly.

"The announcer said that he'll go last," Alex said, and Hannah noticed a hard edge to her voice.

"But," May said, gesturing towards the general population of the room, "Where is he, anyway?"

* * *

On the stage, soon to be battlefield if things went well, the announcer and the three judges seemed to have come to a decision. "And now," she announced, though Ziri detected an uncertain tone in her voice and so tensed his own muscles. "Let's welcome the final contestant here today…"

The crowd waited, with bated breath.

* * *

Gale and Urya tensed, realizing that Ziri's time was near.

* * *

Hannah raised her head upwards, for the first time in five minutes, to look at the screens. Alex was also staring, as was everyone else.

* * *

"Zirienji Axlhedron-!"

Ziri bolted, as in blur-running, towards the stage.

* * *

"What's that-" Alex began, noticing a blur on the corner of the monitors, but there was no time to say anything else on the subject in the next few seconds.

* * *

Blur-running involved pushing himself to the limit. Or breaking them down, Ziri had once mused to himself, when he timed himself and realized that he could travel a mile in some thirty seconds this way.

What was fifty feet of carpeted floor between two horizontal columns of seats to him?

He reached within ten feet of the stage, and here was the tricky part- The stage was six feet up the floor, to give the crowd a better look at what went on. But that meant leaping on leg power would be useless.

So he jump-dived forward, and landed in a handstand on the floor, making sure to half-collapse his elbow. This was exactly like using Blaze the Charmander's head as a footstool, save one thing- He had no footstool and only the floor.

Not that it actually mattered, because then Ziri shoved himself off the floor with all the power his previously bent and now stiff arm could muster, and the ground gave up possession of his being.

After exactly five complete spins vertically through the air, he felt gravity begin to take hold once more, and he readied himself for the early landing-

Automatically, upon feeling the ground, his knees collapsed- Only halfway, but still. His arms flew out to the side, open-handed, and so he looked up, still keeping everything except his neck and head in that same position.

"Did someone call?"

* * *

Hannah's, Alex's, May's, and pretty much the entire population of the waiting room stared at the screen, stunned.

"What- What-" May stuttered, incapable of processing the feat of physical strength and control that the teenager on screen had just performed.

"Don't worry," Alex said, finding her voice, "He does this every two days, at our expense-"

Everyone's eyes swiveled to her. "You _know _this guy?"

"You forget me," Hannah snapped, still having not taken her eyes off the monitor.

* * *

Urya and Gale together stared at Ziri's posed form, and began clapping.

Soon the entire crowd joined together in clapping, whooping, cheering, and roaring their support for this person in the midst of the crowd who had before his time had even started given them a show.

* * *

On the stage, the announcer and the judges stared at him, openmouthed, even as Ziri straightened his body and brushed off the arm that had pushed him skywards. "So," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone, "Do I get to do my appeal now?"

They nodded, and that meant one thing in his mind- Get the heck in, do his act, and then get out and see if he stayed. So he sauntered over to the edge of the field, and took a deep breath, the jitters suddenly knocking him out of his high. He reached for the one Pokeball that held the one Pokemon that had a chance of appealing of all the Pokemon he owned…

When his Pokegear rang.

Ziri blinked twice, before he sighed and answered it to the amusement of the crowd.

* * *

"That breaks the mood," Hannah commented as she tore her eyes off the monitor. "What?" she snapped, when she noticed everyone seemed to staring at her and Alex.

They instantly looked away.

* * *

"Hey, Professor Elm," Ziri said conversationally, though that kind of thing was the last thing in his mind in this situation. "Look, can we talk-"

"Oh yes, we can talk," the professor said breathlessly as the entire crowd burst into quiet talking about this kid in direct contact with the region's most famed Pokemon Professor. "I've got another egg that I need you to hatch for me-"

Ziri groaned. "Do I actually have to go all the way back to New Bark Town now?" he grumbled as he jammed his free left hand in his pocket and began pacing around the stage.

"No, my aide already has it in the Pokemon Center."

Ziri stopped and fell over the edge of the stage in shock. "_What_?"

The fall sent the entire hall into an uproar. Everyone was out of their seats, and then back in slowly as they watched the boy quickly climb back over the ledge, dusting himself off. "A-are you alright, young man?" came the concerned cry of Violet's City mayor, who happened to be one of the judges.

"Yeah, yeah," Ziri said distractedly, and waved them off.

* * *

"That is so Ziri," Gale groaned. "Taking a six-foot fall, and then climbing up as if nothing had happened. What is he?"

"You said it," Urya agreed.

* * *

"He is the craziest person I've ever met."

That was Hannah's blunt take on the boy, while Alex stared indignantly.

"He knows Professor Elm _personally_?!"

* * *

"Okay, I'll pick it up after I'm done here, Professor, so could you _please _hang up?"

* * *

"_What_?!" Alex screeched. "Doesn't he have _any _respect for a famous Pokemon Professor-?"

* * *

On stage, Ziri quickly closed the phone and put it away as fast as possible, to the general titters of the crowd.

"Can we get the show on the road? _Now_?" he snarled at the judges and announcers, who immediately backed away at the tone.

"Good." And with that, he grabbed his Pokeball yet again, and threw it upwards, so that it barely missed hitting the ceiling-

"Togepi, let's go!"

The Spike Ball Pokemon popped out, chirping merrily as it waggled its stubby forearms at the crowd, who suddenly seemed to be swooning with adoring at its utter and total cuteness. Ziri sighed; this was going to be trouble if he wanted to stay away from these stupid Contest… things. Waiting until the ohhhing and ahhhing had finished, he then called, "Togepi, spin in a circle and use Charm!"

As it whirled around as per its order, Togepi sent out a stream of hearts that floated above the heads of the audience, enticing clapping for the opening act. Well, the hearts didn't fly over the heads of the audience as in directly overhead, but simply hovered over the stage, as per rehersal.

* * *

"That's a pretty appealing, but not exactly original act," Synthia noted dryly. "How many people have used that trick-?"

* * *

Ziri took a deep breath.

_All or nothing time. _

He raised his voice.

"Togepi, Metronome!"

The entire audience and the inhabitants of the waiting room were stunned into silence.

* * *

"Is he _insane_?" May said as she gaped at the monitors in utter and sheer disbelief. "Does he know-"

"How many ways this could go right and how many more ways it could go wrong?" Hannah finished. "I think he does, but I told you he was the craziest person I know-"

* * *

Togepi stopped spinning, chirping as it waggled its forelimbs, creating a glow on them.

And then it faded, and it blinked twice.

* * *

"Uh-oh," Urya mumbled.

Not really.

* * *

Suddenly, it opened its mouth, and Ziri, noticing, quickly called "Start spinning!"

He had no clue what it was about to do, but-

Flames immediately burst out, as Togepi spun around, so that when the flames flew, they…

Instantly ignited the hearts still floating in midair.

Everyone in the hall gasped, cried out, laughed, and cheered as the hearts, now burning and propelled by the flames, floated well and truly above the crowd. Some even floated so low that Ziri saw some idiotic children try to catch them- They actually did, to his amazement, and only laughed at what he could tell was in actuality weak warmth before they let go.

His Pokedex, unbidden in his pocket, chimed "**Flamethrower, a fire-type move. The user releases a steady streams of powerful flames that may burn the foe.**"

The judges looked at each other, again openmouthed, and back again. "Are you done-?" the Nurse Joy of the local Pokemon Center asked him rather shakily-

Suddenly, he felt the recklessness flood his system, and before he could realize it he had yelled "One more Metronome!"

That was when he realized what he had done, and backed away, a terrified expression on his face.

* * *

"Ziri's gone over the line now," Alex said resignedly as everyone else stared at the screen in horror.

Again, not really.

* * *

Instead of spitting out flames this time…

The body of the Spike Ball Pokemon now lit up with cackling blue electricity. With a squeal of "Togepiiiii!!!" it suddenly got a look of concentration across its face before it let loose a multi-directional, radial barrage of bolts in all directions. Yelping, Ziri ducked just as one blasted over his head-

He then heard a sudden storm of noises that could be described as _pops_, and he looked up to see the burning hearts that had been slowly flying around bursting in red-and-yellow dust, to the pleasure of the crowd who gave a roar of approval.

Ziri looked around, stunned. Everywhere there was the sparkling dust, which floated down gently. He looked at Togepi, who stared back innocently. The message was clear:

_You ordered that, not me. _

"So we celebrate?" he said softly.

Instead of answering, Togepi dashed towards him and jumped. Laughing, Ziri caught it- But was unprepared for the impact, which made him stagger backwards as he checked his Pokedex. "**Discharge, an electric-type move. The user unleashes a large** **burst of electricity going in all directions.**"

_Nasty,_ Ziri thought to himself, _but thankfully…_

He turned to his scores and almost dropped Togepi.

Eight and-a-half. Eight and-a-half. And, the score of Violet City's Nurse Joy…

Ten.

Ziri paled and groaned simultaneously, the first at his horror of getting a perfect ten and rivaling the top two and the Princess of Hoenn herself, and groaned at the fact that the Nurse Joy seemed to have fainted…

From the performance, or the fact that it appeared that the bolt that Ziri had seen going over his head earlier might have hit her without anyone noticing and then causing her to somehow bash the score by accident, the reason of her falling unconscious he couldn't tell…

He still felt giddy anyway, as he returned Togepi and walked off the stage to a crowd chanting his name: "Ziri, Ziri, Ziri, Ziri…"

* * *

"Wow," Urya said, as their ears rang from the din.

"You said it," Gale affirmed, and quickly sprinted off.

* * *

When Ziri, still high from his incredible luck and score opened the door to the waiting room he found fifteen pairs of eyes staring at him. All he could say was a conversational "What?"

Silence. Well, for the first three seconds. Then, Hannah spoke up, and with gritted teeth she said with venom that could have made an Arbok scamper:

"Where the _hell _were you?"

Ziri wanted to cower, but he stood firm. "On the roof."

Fifteen pairs of jaws dropped, as they all chorused a collective "_What_?"

"I was on the roof until the last minute," he quickly explained, "So that I wouldn't have to deal with actually going into this room until after I was finished. Besides, there's nothing to do in this place beforehand-"

"Last night," Alex quickly interjected, "Where _were _you?"

Ziri instinctively flinched. "Sleeping outside Violet City."

Alex blinked twice. "Wha-?"

"I," he repeated, "Was sleeping outside until six in the morning, when I woke up, warmed up, did a few last minute rehearsals-"

"Rehearsals?" Hannah said in disbelief. "You call what you just did _rehearsable_?"

"Not really," he mumbled, "I just wanted to get the idea… But," he added, looking around, "Wasn't that combination awesome?"

"Actually," May interjected, "That was one of the best appeals I've ever seen. You're named Ziri, right…?"

The boy in question blinked, before he nodded. She gave him a good look. "You're not a normal coordinator, are you-?"

"An overzealous attendant registered him, and he went psycho yesterday," Hannah interjected irritably. "Now…"

She stalked over, hand raised to slap him- Ziri instantly cowered against the door- When she tripped over the hem of someone's dress.

But this time, Ziri was there, and he instantly grabbed her shoulders and propped her up.

"I knew it!" he crowed suddenly, after they stared into each other's eyes for a second, causing her to blush slightly, "You _can't _survive without me-!"

That was when she balled her right hand into a fist and punched him as hard as she could.

The door opened, and an attendant- Not the one that had been giving Ziri so much trouble- walked in, saying "Everyone, the announcement of next round is in ten minutes-"

And then she noticed the body of Ziri at her feet with a bloody jaw, a flush-faced Hannah staring at him, livid, and fourteen other people looking rather guilty for being there.

She fainted.

Gale charged into view, skidding into a stop. "Where's Ziri?" he demanded as soon as he caught sight of a certain girl with a rather furious look on her face.

A second later, he caught sight of the fainted attendant, Ziri lying in front of her with blood trickling from his jaw and a bemused expression on his face, and the fact that Hannah's right knuckles were rather swollen, and he got the picture. "Uh, did you kill him this time?" he asked meekly.

"Unfortunately, no," she growled, as Ziri snapped his eyes open and jumped up.

"What did I miss?" he asked innocently, discretely swiping the side of his mouth with the back of his hand. "Don't worry," he added to the stunned waiting room occupants, well, at least beside him, Hannah, and Alex, "She does that to me every day."

Everyone quickly retreated into their seats.

Suddenly, the monitors, which had indiscreetly turned off some time ago, suddenly came to life with a new announcement. "…Thanks, Bob, for that story… Now, let's go to Violet City, where the Contest there has apparently become more than just a cakewalk for the Princess of Hoenn, May Maple who has recently come here to Johto to compete. Although she has done well, there are two others who have done _just _as well-" Ziri groaned while Synthia looked on proudly "But let's go to the best highlight of what we've seen. Here's a replay of one of Miss Maple's new contenders, and perhaps the wild card in this Contest, Zirienji Axlhedron's very own stunning entrance- And even more stunning performance. Take a look."

Ziri tried to vanish into a wall as they replayed _everything_- Everything, all the way from his entrance from the audience (They replayed the airborne part for at least five times), his hurried conversation with Professor Elm, and finally the Charm and the two Metronomes.

The newscaster seemed to be composed after seeing it, but Ziri could tell a slight quaver in his voice. "And that's the replay, folks. We've just received word that this particular coordinator only two days ago won the Zephyr Badge from Violet City's own Falkner… Oh, and here, in a special guest appearance, is Professor Elm of New Bark Town."

Ziri ran for it- Well, would have, if Hannah hadn't snagged onto his arm and Gale shoving him back into the room. The live picture of the brown-haired professor appeared, and Ziri groaned. "Oh yes, hello everyone… I do believe that everyone may have heard the phone conversation that I had with Ziri just a few minutes ago-"

The anchor couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, we all saw that, and something that made this young man in question" Ziri groaned at this "fall off the stage… That was said by you, wasn't it?"

"Yes," the Professor said, vigorously nodding. "I'm afraid I can't disclose that, since Ziri is one of my most trusted helpers-"

"When you say Ziri," the newscaster interrupted, "and say that he's your most trusted helpers, do you mean you know him personally?"

"Yes, I've known him since he was ten. He only seven days ago received his first Pokemon. I'm happy that he's experienced incredible growth on his journey, but if he's watching, I just want to say a few words- Never ever think that you've been defeated, because there's always tomorrow. You're only a beginner in the world of Pokemon, so remember that you'll take losses just as well as your spectacular victories. Well, thank you for having me!"

"Thank you for being-" the anchor began, when he realized Professor Elm had already hung up. Sighing, he added "We have just gotten notice that there is what appears to be a massive crowd in front of the Contest Hall in Violet City… The police are attempting to disperse them, but it appears that all of them are not interested in rioting, they only want to see this new blood in action."

"In other news…"

It immediately shut off, and now everyone was yet again staring at Ziri, who by now…

Had, to everyone's shock, broken free of the combined double-death grips and disappeared. The owners of the previously mentioned death grips were nowhere to be seen. And there was one number subtracted from those that remained in the room…

* * *

Well, no, they had actually dragged him out to the lobby, which was empty- Save for the people on the other side of the doors. Urya was waiting, and he quickly demanded "How the heck are you so lucky? And where were you?"

"Ditching you guys?" he mumbled helplessly.

The all glared at him. "The heck you had to run off for?" Urya exclaimed. "Did you think it was going to be a one man show here-?"

Ziri's mind drifted off to Professor Elm's final words before he had gotten off the air.

"_Remember that you'll take losses just as well as your spectacular victories." _

He knew that- But the last few days he had dispelled all thoughts of loss. His two battles with the boy who had stolen Totodile, the sort-of battle with that idiot Bug Catcher, the battle with Gale, and finally the battle with Falkner and the spectacular luck he had with the appeals round- That had erased all unease he had with beginning his journey. Those were all victories, in his name and totally undisputed.

But now, with Professor Elm's words ringing through his head, he suddenly felt like a mortal again.

"-I don't get why you don't understand- We were _worried_!"

Ziri snapped back from his thoughts at those words, realizing with shock that Alex had spoken them- The same girl that he had so calmly caused pain to yesterday. "Um… thanks?" he said meekly.

"Geez, Ziri," Urya interjected, "It's like you never had friends before us…"

_You don't know how true that is. _

* * *

**So that ends this week's updates. The battles are next, so be prepared for explosions, loud sounds of pain, and flames... Lots of flames ;D**

**Well, don't flame me... But review! Please!! With a Cherim berry on top!!!**


	15. Wheeled, Raged, and Screened

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* * *

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Argh, another of those bad chapters in my opinion. Son of a...

**Writing three battles in one chapter is damned hard. But, it's worth it, at least I hope so. Any errors? That's what's the review button's for!**

**And to those who have favorited this story but have not reviewed- WHAT THE HECK. Sure, you like it, but could you please take five minutes, one-twelfth of an hour, and one-two hundred eighty-eighth of twenty four hours- To type down a sentence, a word, maybe two sentences? I really don't know how hard that kind of thing is... **

**So, with all further ado, I don't own the pwnage Pokemon franchise. If I did, then you wouldn't want to play it. **

**Happy Reading!**

* * *

Pretty much half of Johto had watched the coverage of the Violet City Contest. That included those too lazy to get up from the couch and actually go to the Contest Hall- Yes, those who lived in Violet City.

There was also a certain person who watched the footage from the Pokemon Center, where the Chansey was on duty instead of Nurse Joy, who on screen was busy being treated for mild shock.

He indeed had green hair, and he stared at the screen with a mixture of contempt and fury. The main theme of what was going through his head:

_He doesn't deserve any of this insane attention. None at all. _

_He treats tools like friends. Incredible. I always knew that he would be bad luck, the moment I had laid my eyes on him in New Bark Town. _

_But somehow, every time we clash I've lost against him. What causes this? Are his Pokemon simply stronger, or are they just on a sort of delusion that they fight for him, instead of in reality being simply his tools for his victories? How stupid. _

Yes, that was it. His Pokemon simply fought with zeal to rival a crusader. He turned away, intending to find the power to crush that zeal. One day...

* * *

On stage, the sixteen Contest participants lined up, all facing the crowd. Well, Ziri was trying quite well, but in actuality failing to stop his squirming at this much attention- It didn't help that pretty much half the crowd was focusing on him and him only.

"Help me" he mumbled to no one in particular, as he stood there visibly squirming with fear.

Alex took one good look at him and sighed from the other side of the line. Sure, she was nervous as well, but not to the extent where you actually shook from fear…

Hannah too was shaking- Well, shaking less, actually. She had never been bad with crowds- That was her history before coming to Johto. At school, she was always the one who had the massive crowd around her.

As if to make the difference more clear, if only to her, they were standing exactly at the opposite ends of the line. The anti-social one and the popular-to-the-extreme one: All in the same place. Oh, the irony…

"This is now the opening of the battle rounds of this Contest!" the announcer declared, quite unaware of the irony behind her. "However, eight of our wonderful performers today must leave before this round begins. I have the list here…"

She held a rather long piece of paper, and everyone in the audience tensed.

* * *

Urya sighed in relief, as the eighth and final one to be axed left the stage, dejected. "At least the three there didn't get sent away…"

"True," Gale remarked, "But what about the battle rounds?"

"Ziri'll do fine in it, it's guaranteed!" Urya said confidently.

Gale didn't share that sentiment- May Maple was the first person who came to mind, and he knew people didn't usually bestow titles like the Princess of Hoenn unless they were good in both rounds of Contests…

* * *

The first battle?

"Zirienji Axlhedron versus Synthia Renata!"

The announcement was greeted by a roar of excitement- Both of them, after all had twenty-sevens, one had won a ribbon- And one had won a badge.

Badges versus ribbons. Even an idiot could tell this was turning nasty.

Ziri was now relishing the chance to crush the frustrating one who had made his life hell for the last two days- Synthia now relished a chance to dampen his fighting spirit and make him hers. They traded glances, both evil- This was going to be one for the books.

Hannah felt slightly (Maybe really) indignant that she hadn't gotten to get a chance to beat her up, but managed to control herself- Barely. Alex shared only neutral thoughts on the nature of the matter- Save for the fact that she wanted Ziri to win against her. She annoyed her to no end- Just because she won one Contest didn't guarantee this one was in the bag.

But that state of mind nettled her. What if he won, then Alex herself won, and then they would go against each other? Not the best thought…

"Will all Contestants save for the two determined to battle please leave the stage!"

Ziri quickly scooted to the side of the stage-into-battlefield that he was closest to, in this case the audience's left; Synthia simply sauntered over to the audience's right. Now they faced each other, the evil grins snapping back into place.

"Let's begin!" she cried. "Send out your Pokemon!"

Ziri took a deep breath and took one Pokeball off his belt- Synthia made an identical movement.

"Smoochum, let's get going!"

"Cyndaquil, flame on!"

Both Pokemon popped out simultaneously, one making smooching sounds to the crowd, the other, slightly larger one sending flames upwards from its back. The crowd roared, more for the latter, since many of them had been witness to Ziri's battle with Falkner two days previously.

Alex quickly took out her Pokedex and examined it; what exactly was that… Thing… From?

"**Smoochum, the Kiss Pokemon. Its lips are the most sensitive part of its body, so it will try to kiss everything to see if it likes or dislikes the object.**"

Alex wrinkled her nose as the entry as she put the electronic encyclopedia away. "Who would want a Pokemon like that?"

"Obviously one which gets lots of cuteness points," Hannah pointed out, which explained the fact that the women were staring at it with hearts in their eyes…

* * *

"It's time, folks! Begin!" the announcer cried, and quickly stepped back.

"Smoochum, use Sweet Kiss!" Synthia immediately ordered.

Ziri blinked, when he saw the Kiss Pokemon kiss its own hands and release a Charm-like barrage of hearts that began floating at Cyndaquil; the previously mentioned Fire Mouse squealed in panic and began backing away, remembering exactly _what _had happened yesterday when it had gotten hit by Charm from Togepi, if only by accident…

This might be different, but Ziri wasn't going to try it and see for himself, if he could help it. "Stop the hearts with Ember!" he shouted.

The flames flew outwards, striking each heart with a bolt of flame. They slowed down, but didn't blow up; Synthia took advantage of this and called "Move them forward with Confusion!"

The burning hearts- Ziri now decided to name this heartburn- glowed with a blue light as they picked up speed. Knowing to stay at the end of the field was nothing short of suicide, he called "Go through it with Quick Attack!"

The Fire Mouse zipped through the barrage, heading straight towards Smoochum-

"Fake Tears!"

Its glowing stopped, if only to suddenly burst into tears. Cyndaquil immediately stopped, startled; now, Smoochum's owner called, with a smirk as she noticed Ziri's points dropping on the scoreboard, "Pound!"

The Smoochum jumped forward and slammed Cyndaquil with a glowing fist, no matter how small, which proceeded to send it skidding backwards. Ziri gritted his teeth and called "Ember!"

"Powder Snow!" was the counter, and the barrage of flames was met with a storm of sparkling snow that instantly evaporated but in turn sent up steam, snuffing out the flames.

Ziri groaned, but kept going, even as he noticed his score rapidly falling from three failed attacks. "Cyndaquil, Swift!" he called, praying that it would work this time.

Somehow, it did- Synthia wasn't prepared for _that _kind of attack by a storm of yellow stars, and so watched helplessly as it was Smoochum's turn to be thrown backwards, this time off her feet. "Smoochum, shake it off! Use another Lovely Kiss!" she ordered, noticing a rather large decrease in her score.

Again, she struggled to its feet-

"Quick Attack!"

The blur-and-black blur crashed into Smoochum, sending it back further. Now Synthia was positively panicking, as she realized that not only did Ziri have power on his side, he had intelligence as well…

"Fake Tears!" she cried. Quickly, while it was on the ground, a stream of tears blasted out of its eyes, and Cyndaquil stopped, not sure whether to attack or to help it, as his owner's points dropped-

"Snap out of it! Remember that it's been slamming you around!" Ziri yelled, and instantly at his owner's voice and words he snapped out of it. "Ember!"

"Another Powder Snow-" Synthia began, but then…

"Psyche!" Ziri yelled. "Retreat! Smokescreen!"

As Cyndaquil scooted backwards he sent out a plume of smoke that immediately blanketed the victim; now instead of snow coming out of the cloud there was the sound of coughing. Ziri grinned before calling "Let's go with another Swift!"

"Fake Tears!" Synthia called confidently.

But then she realized _exactly _why Ziri had used the Smokescreen.

There was no way for anyone to see out of the smoke, but the opposite was true- Nobody could see _in_. Therefore, Fake Tears, a sight-based attack, was well, utterly, absolutely, and truly useless. The Swift flew in from one side, and the battered, wailing form of Smoochum came out of the other, along with a large chunk of her points going down.

"Smoochum, Sing!" she shouted in utter desperation.

For some odd reason, it worked.

The Smoochum's mouth opened, and out came a rather enticing sound; Cyndaquil, after a few seconds of listening to the melody with curiosity, began tottering from side to side. Ziri groaned, and put his hand on his forehead.

His Pokemon fell asleep the moment his hand hit his head.

Now Ziri's points took a beating, and Synthia, sensing the opening, took it- "Smoochum, use Powder Snow!" she cried.

Ziri looked up in time to see the cloud of snow descend upon the body of his sleeping Cyndaquil…

And his mouth dropped open upon realizing that for an odd, physically impossible reason, his Cyndaquil was now frozen solid, encased in a sphere of glass.

* * *

Hannah stared at the screen in disbelief. "What the-?"

Alex, however, quickly dipped her hand into her bag and retrieved her Pokedex…

"**Powder Snow, an ice-type move. The user blows freezing snow at the opponent, which may condense and cause the victim to be frozen.**"

Alex turned pale. "He's finished," she said hoarsely.

* * *

The same thought, only modified so that it fit in first person, crossed Ziri's mind, and desperately he yelled "Cyndaquil, wake up!"

No response.

He tried again. "C'mon, Cyndaquil! You can't lose like this!"

Still nothing.

_Third time's a charm,_ he thought grimly, and yelled "Cyndaquil, wake up! Think of… Uh…" he waved his arms wildly and fibbed "Spicy stuff!"

The crowd tittered while in the waiting room everyone stared at the screen in total, absolute shock.

* * *

"Did he just say _spicy_-" May began in disbelief, trying to keep herself from laughing, but like many things surrounding Zirienji Axlhedron she never got to finish her sentence.

Obviously, it worked.

* * *

To the shock of anyone and everyone there, the block of ice that his Pokemon was encased in suddenly began rocking back and forth- Synthia's eyes widened before she called "Another Powder Snow!"

Ziri was too busy trying to break his Pokemon out to notice, but it wasn't as if he didn't care, because his next lines were: "Try-" he began, thinking of using Swift, but then he realized that Cyndaquil's mouth was shut tight. "Uh… Quick Attack!"

Suddenly the block of ice encasing the Fire Mouse rolled away from the blanketing snow, sparing an extra layer of imprisonment- But it had done nothing at all.

"Try Ember!" Ziri called, remembering how fire always melted ice-

He saw the flame vents through the transparent glass, however, and his heart sank- There was no fire in that cage from lack of oxygen, the main tool in combustion.

Then he remembered the move that had given him the Zephyr Badge yesterday, and he took a deep breath, as now Synthia laughed at his Pokemon's apparent helplessness, and yelled "Flame Wheel!"

Synthia kept laughing. "It's useless!" she crowed…

Only to realize Ziri had an evil grin on his face. "What?" she snapped, quieting down.

"Watch."

She looked at the block, and to her horror the block seemed to be steaming as the Pokemon within now began to visibly shake-

With a sudden implosion, the block blew apart, and inside was a literally steamed Cyndaquil, back blazing.

* * *

"And he finds _another _way out of these life-or-death situations," Hannah sighed, somewhat in relief.

"The move that his Pokemon learned in his Gym battle," Alex said thoughtfully. "I never thought you could use it to get out of being frozen…"

* * *

"Awesome!" Urya crowed, like the crowd who was roaring its approval. "That move from his battle with Falkner-!"

"He's a genius," Gale said, in a quieter voice.

* * *

Back on stage, Ziri now knew what to do.

"We've wasted enough time!" Ziri shouted, while he Cyndaquil indignantly squealed in agreement. "Let's blow'em away with Flame Wheel, pronto!"

His best friend charged, flipping over with its back flaming, and now it became a rolling juggernaut wreathed in flames charging at the startled Smoochum. Synthia turned pale, and called out "Fake Tears-!"

The stream of tears flew, but somehow Smoochum's opponent did not stop- Now she realized that the flames that blanketed her foe's Pokemon was causing something of a localized mirage within the shell of fire, preventing the tears from being seen distinctly…

Now she ordered a slightly more desperate "Powder Snow-!"

The snow flew- And promptly began steaming and evaporating the moment it came within six inches of the flames. Suddenly, Ziri's desperate opponent had a brainwave- "Confusion!"

A light around Smoochum appeared, and suddenly Cyndaquil slowed down, the flames remaining- But now it was no longer moving, although the prior momentum made the control shaky, evidenced by Smoochum's nowfound wobbliness…

"Power though it!" Ziri yelled. "Push through with all the power you have! Rip through!"

Impossibly, the ball of fire pushed forward one step.

And another. And another, and finally the telekinetic grip shattered never to return. Synthia had no time to call an order- She was stunned anyway at the final push. Cyndaquil smashed into his opponent with a burst of flames at the point of impact, and the fact that Smoochum was part ice-type didn't help- It was hurled through the air, trailing smoke, and fell with a muffled _thump_.

Ziri let out a breath that he hadn't known he was holding, heard the buzzer, and looked at the scoreboard.

Two minutes and forty-six seconds left.

He was still behind on points, but from the looks of things…

"I don't believe it, folks!" the announcer's voice thundered, as the crowd deafened everyone and itself with its applause. "Although behind in points, by sheer brute force the wild card of this Contest has defeated one of our top two favorites!"

Ziri turned, waved nervously to the crowd, and left, to yet another chant of his name. Synthia remained there, stunned, and sighed.

"Smoochum, return." With that, she left as well.

* * *

When Ziri opened the door, everyone stared at him in disbelief.

"You powered through that with brute force," Hannah said in disbelief. "You treat this thing as a battle."

Ziri blinked. "Yeah? So?"

"That's the wrong way to treat this!" May snapped, slightly nettled at his ignorance of etiquette here. "Battles here aren't supposed to be 'knock-out' everyone as fast as you can' competitions, they're supposed to showcase your Pokemon's talent as much as possible in five minutes-"

"They liked it, didn't they?" Ziri pointed out, not with smugness or pride, but only with an air of pointing out the pure facts, and he took a seat.

The entire class of people belonging to the category "Everyone wanting to berate Ziri for his uncouth and disorderly conduct during battle" which meant everyone in the room fell silent.

_They liked it, didn't they?..._

That chord of logic left them silent, until on the monitors the announcer called:

"Alessandra Cesarini will now go against May Maple!"

Alex turned pale immediately, while May giggled with nervousness. "Um… Good luck?" she said meekly.

May stood up and walked out, with Alex following a few seconds later, slower than her predecessor…

* * *

Urya blinked at the sudden moroseness of his fellow in the seats. "Why so glum? Alex just won a freakin' badge, so it's not that she'll lose or anything-"

"People don't call others princes, princesses, or whatever just because they can, Varacei or whatever your name is."

And with that, Gale shut up and continued to stare at the stage.

* * *

Alex had very a good reason to have turned pale, when she first sent out Blaze…

And May sent out, of all things, a Skitty.

* * *

Ziri blinked once, twice, thrice, and then whipped out his Pokedex in similar manner to Alex as she had done previously with his opponent:

"**Skitty, the Kitten Pokemon. A Skitty's adorably cute mewing makes it highly popular. In battle, it can make its tail puff out as well as threaten foes with a sharp growl**."

Hearing the entry (Having sidled over to Ziri's seat) Hannah turned to him and asked "A pet? Do you really think that thing can battle-?"

"Looks aren't everything," Ziri said dryly. "Take you, for example. You look like the ideal girlfriend for the general male population, if only you didn't have the habit of tripping over anything and everything- Oww!"

That was Hannah slapping him to shut him up, to the mutters of "Those two…"

* * *

Back on stage, Alex was trying to control her nerves- But she had been forced to leave Light and Dark behind, as a result of the rule of being only able to have one Pokemon _anywhere _on the stage at any one time.

Therefore, she had nothing to reassure her, even the crowd- Which was too busy paying attention to May's Skitty, which was busy chasing its tail…

"Begin!"

Alex quickly seized the initiative. "Use Scary Face!" she cried, and watched as suddenly the Skitty froze up in fear (Who was the one looking into her Charmander's face?).

"Stop looking at it!" May shouted, noticing her dropping points, and then called "Skitty, Assist!"

Alex blinked, as the Skitty both snapped out its prior state and raised its right front paw.

For a second, it stood in that position, paw glowing- As Alex opened her mouth to order an Ember, suddenly…

It charged, its tail suddenly becoming wreathed in a spiral of water. Alex's mouth hung there, before she found her voice to call "Use Dragon Rage!"

Immediately, Blaze's eyes turned a glowing white- As if to go directly against Skitty, the tail on his flame suddenly doubled, then tripled in size. Opening his mouth, a bluish fireball there formed…

And it flew, crashing into the oncoming Skitty. Alex staggered from the shock wave that flew outwards; the audience reacted via a combination of shock and displeasure at seeing the Skitty flying through the air, mewing (Cutely) in pain.

May didn't miss a beat. "Blizzard!"

Now, in an attack strangely reminiscent of Powder Snow, only faster… And stronger, the Skitty opened its mouth, to send out a flurry of cold, chilling ice-laced winds. Alex cried at Blaze, remembering Ziri's way of blocking it (Or rather, being blocked _by _it) "Use Ember!"

Actually…

* * *

Ziri groaned. "Idiot."

"What?" Hannah said, blinking. "Your Embers were blocked by Powder Snow, remember-"

"Blizzards are stronger than Powder Snows, you fool. And mind you it was a miracle that that weird thing with the tail and the water didn't hit."

"Well, _what _was it?" she snapped, nettled.

Ziri simply held up his Pokedex.

"**Aqua Tail, a water-type move. The user slams the foe with an appendage covered in water.**"

Ziri shut the Pokedex. "And you do know Charmanders are fire-types, right?"

Hannah turned pale. "That was close-"

"Watch. This'll be worse."

* * *

Sure, it was fire versus ice, and fire won (Mostly) against ice.

But winds snuff out fire, and this was ice backed up by winds. Instantly, the combination of cold and wind overwhelmed the sparse barrage of flames, and went on, sending the yelping Blaze over his head. When it passed (Giving Alex the chills) the Charmander popped up, growling angrily.

Alex realized one thing- Ember wasn't going to cut it here, given that she now took two point hits- The failed Ember and the actual hit of the Blizzard, even though it hadn't truly done too much damage. But Embers here, as she now knew, were useless against Blizzards.

If that was the case…

"Scary Face and Dragon Rage!" she ordered, and watched in satisfaction as the Skitty froze up again in fear- And was then slammed by the blue fireball that flew out of the Charmander's mouth. This time, May was ready-

"Run forward! Assist!"

The Skitty landed on its feet and then charged, a paw glowing. Remembering what happened last time, Alex opened her mouth-

And that's when the paw's glow faded, and the tail took it up. Unheeding of the change, Alex shouted confidently "Dragon Rage-!"

The fireball flew, but this time the Skitty whirled around and smashed right through it via the glowing tail. To Alex's complete shock, it kept going, continuing the spinning motion in a final blow that sent Blaze sprawling.

* * *

Hannah stared at the screen. "What the-?"

Ziri, however, saw something beyond the fact that whenever May called an Assist it always did something with the tail. "What the heck _is _Assist, anyway?" he mused.

The answer: "**Assist, a normal-type move. The Pokemon randomly uses a move that a member of its party knows, not one of its own.**"

Then: "**Focus Punch, a fighting-type move. The user gathers its focus into a fist and strikes the foe with incredible force, but it will fail to use the move if something breaks its concentration.**"

Ziri looked up, just in time to see Blaze go sprawling, and winced.

The "incredible force" part was true, at least…

* * *

Alex called for her Charmander to get up- Only to realize that there was a rather large bruise on the side of his head…

_What-?_

"Skitty, Doubleslap!"

Alex had a nasty vision of Ziri and his Aipom doing what May had just ordered, this time with a Skitty (Somehow, both used their tails), and yelled, in a panic at this sudden return of a painful memory, "Use Scratch!"

The Charmander, although weakened by the Focus Punch, now swiped wildly on the oncoming Skitty, who yelped wildly and instead of turning around and assaulting its downed foe jumped over. Encouraged at the slight point loss that May suffered, Alex called "Ember!"

This time, with no howling freezing winds to oppose the flames, the Skitty was as good as roast kitten. It yelped as its fur blackened with impact of the fireballs, leading May to call out "Blizzard!"

This time, Alex at least knew some info about her enemy's moves, and called "Dragon Rage!"

Blaze, who had gotten up (Woozily) by now, sent out the blue, explosive fireball that bashed its way through the Blizzard- Well, halfway, before it exploded, effectively ending the attack. Again, Alex ordered an Ember, which was countered by…

"Skitty, use Assist!"

Skitty's right paw yet again glowed, and Ziri from the waiting room tensed along with Urya, Gale, and the entire audience.

* * *

And so instead of charging forward, this time the Skitty glowed further- With a purple light that made Ziri gulp by instinct.

Then he blinked twice.

Where was that so familiar-?

Then it simultaneously hit all the brains of the ones in the group of five, and Synthia, who was watching depressedly from the lobby- That light was almost like a Confusion attack…

The very reason that it was so familiar is that it was pretty much the same thing.

Only stronger.

* * *

Blaze yelped as he was lifted upwards, limbs flailing as the Skitty frolicked. With a rather evil grin on her face, May called "Throw it!"

Blaze was hurled halfway across the field, where he bounced twice before coming to a rest, groaning weakly.

"No!" Alex cried in panic, and called "Blaze, come on! Don't let that thing beat you-!"

The Charmander began to shove itself to its feet, leading to the crowd applauding the Charmander's spirit- Even if they knew that the battle was mostly over.

One minute.

* * *

"She should stop," Ziri said softly.

Hannah looked sharply at him. "Why're you telling her to give up-?"

"It's obvious she's out of her league. She's good, but right now May's better."

"You'd think the same two days ago against Falkner!" she said angrily. "Are you a-?"

"Hypocrite? Look at the screen, dammit!"

Hannah looked, and her heart sank.

The Skitty, although having taken multiple Dragon Rages and Embers, somehow still looked somewhat healthy, which Blaze could barely stand…

"See?" Ziri said softly. "I would have forfeited against Falkner if I was stuck in Alex's shoes but inside a Gym. But I wasn't, at least not that screwed back then, and besides, Cyndaquil would've killed himself first before he lost to that Fearow."

With that he fell silent.

* * *

Gale was having similar thoughts, with a morose "She's going to lose. How can she pull herself out of this one?"

"Maybe if she, like, starts becoming unpredictable?" Urya said hopefully.

* * *

At that moment, Alex had a crazy brainwave. Crazy, obviously, but whether it would or not was the question…

"Play dead!"

May blinked twice, before calling in confidence "Doubleslap!"

Perfect.

* * *

Ziri blinked, before he grinned.

"I've rubbed off her," he mused, shaking his head in amusement.

"What?" Hannah snapped. "She's about to lose and you're-!?"

"Watch."

* * *

At the moment the tail came near, Alex called, knowing this was life or death, "Grab the tail!"

It somehow worked- Although the three "pins" on the tail bit deep into the chest of the Charmander, Blaze grabbed the appendage, and despite the apparent thinness of the tail, was now being waved through the air-

"Ember!"

Now Blaze's mouth opened with a "Chaaarrrr!" and sent out the barrage of flames that now hurt worse than before, thanks to the fact that the source, in addition to being closer…

The user now had a previously hidden red aura glowing around it, and had a much larger flame on its tail.

* * *

Ziri, Urya, Gale, and Hannah instantly recognized it, as the Ember's flames were now imbued somehow with explosive properties.

"Holy…" Hannah's voice trailed off into a whisper, before she whirled around and slapped Ziri.

"Oww, son of a-!" He snarled. "Why the hell did you do _that_!? I didn't do anything, dammit-"

"That was for not telling me what you saw!"

"It's called intelligence, nitwit-! Oww!" he finished with a whine, as the slap echoed through the room. "Can't you handle a little bit of-?"

Hannah raised a threatening fist, which Ziri instantly cowered at- After which she, satisfied, turned back to the proceedings.

* * *

Just in time to hear the buzzer ring, and to see Blaze lying down in a heap, flame back to its original size- Or, worse depending on how closely you looked.

Alex couldn't believe what had just happened. Blaze had gotten in five seconds of gratifying punishment on the Skitty, whose fur was still smoking even now- But then May had called for yet another Assist, and _that_ resulted in an odd move that suddenly caused Skitty to send a spiral of petals to come out of its paw.

Although it didn't do much damage, it _did _result in Blaze letting go in surprise. Going on the offensive, May then ordered a Tackle to follow her new advantage, and sent Blaze crashing to the ground.

One more Doubleslap, and Alex's run in the Contest was over, as she looked at the unmoving form of her Pokemon in disbelief.

Slowly, she returned it and walked off, her head falling though applause for the had-fought battle rang through the hall both for victor and loser.

Only one thought ran through her head.

_I lost. _

* * *

Later (Ziri met Gale at the door as he endeavored to walk out- Urya was already trying to console the distraught Alex),the announcer sounded:

"What an incredible battle, folks… But we can't keep replaying it in our heads! Now, let's go onto our next battle…

"Hannah Rangzeski versus Adam Carpenter!"

The two rose simultaneously- One boy and one female- And literally charged out of the door.

Ziri lowered his head and said softly the words "_Buena Suerte_."

Good luck.

* * *

Hannah did not hear those two words, of course- She had reached the stage first…

To renewed wolf-whistling from the crowd amid somewhat jealous applause (How many women there wanted to be her?). Her male counterpart, a rather heavyset guy maybe the same age as her with blond hair, seemed to be gawking at her from the corner of her eye.

She gritted her teeth. Where was Ziri when she needed him? Not exactly the best time to think about it right now, considering that the judges were waiting impatiently…

She took her position from across her opponent, who now had his poker face on, and both made identical movements to their Pokeballs.

Hannah felt Starlight, her Ledyba's Pokeball, and threw it forward.

"Go Starlight!"

"Mudkip, I choose you!"

The Five Star Pokemon appeared, as did his counterpart, the Mud Fish Pokemon, in a flash of white light, and faced each other, the wings on Starlight's back buzzing menacingly…

The Mud Fish Pokemon, already intimidated, took a small step back- But the announcer took no notice, and called "Begin!"

"Mudkip, Tackle!"

The Mud Fish sent itself forward in a wild charge- Hannah, however, thinking of Ziri and how he had never lost his head when confronted with… Well, _anything_. So, she called "Comet Punch!"

The fists of the Ledyba were a blur as suddenly the Mudkip was forced back by the storm of punches. Following on her advantage, Hannah shouted "Let's use Supersonic!"

The wings that kept buzzing now created an echoing, high-pitched sound that sent the Mudkip yelping…

And beating its own head against the ground.

* * *

"Nice," Ziri said softly. "Confusion hurts like hell, especially up close like that…"

* * *

Hannah, unlike Ziri, did not like knockouts- She preferred to slowly abuse her opponents until they were at her feet, begging for mercy. In other words, the exact opposite of Ziri, who would prefer to finish off battles as soon as they began. Therefore, she then shouted "Stay where you are!"

Although the combative Ledyba looked rather disgruntled by the order to not fight, it stayed still and allowed its opponent to bash itself out of confusion.

When the Mudkip looked up, Hannah shouted "Another Comet Punch!"

Again, the fast- Although, by all means, weak attack drove the Mudkip backwards. Not intimidated, Hannah's opponent now called "Use Growl!"

The cute sound stopped Ledyba's attack, and although Hannah's points were colossal compared to Adam's at this point, she didn't like the point drop and snapped "Snap out of it! Now!"

Before Starlight could get his senses back, Adam had called another Tackle- Now, Starlight crashed into the ground, woozy.

Hannah, enraged, called "Get up! That's an order!"

* * *

Ziri groaned. Strangely, he did not feel much rage, mostly only disappointment…

_Whether she realizes or not…_

* * *

Urya and Gale completed the thought.

_She could be the green-haired kid's double right now, and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference._

* * *

Starlight picked himself up, rapidly shaking his head to get himself in the clear, and turned his attention to the Mudkip, wings buzzing menacingly yet again. This time, the Mudkip stood its ground, having gained confidence (Gaining more than it had lost, really) from landing blows on this quirky and angry foe…

"Finally!" his owner huffed. "Let's get back at that thing! Supersonic!"

The wings beat out the furious noise- However, this time the opposing pair was ready. "Mudkip, use Mud Sport!"

The Mudkip suddenly, with a cry of "Muuuuddd!!" created- Although physically impossible- A sport of mud that covered the Mud Fish's body. It also happened to act like a muffler- The Supersonic was now impossible to hear.

Hannah stared in disbelief, while her opponent took advantage of the opening and shouted "Water Gun!"

The stream of water, rather familiar to her thanks to her viewing of the attack firsthand- Though fired from a Totodile, not a Mudkip- flew forward, and slammed into Starlight, who barreled sideways before coming to a midair stop, dazed.

* * *

"She doesn't understand," Ziri said softly to no one in particular. "You never fight that way, unless you want to lose… How many times has she seen that, in the thief?"

May looked sharply at him. "What thief?"

Ziri did not take his eyes off the screen, though he shook his head. "You wouldn't know about stuff like that. At least, not something that small…"

"But what kind of thief are you talking about?" May pressed. "Item, possession, that kind of-?"

"Pokemon thief."

"What is she _doing_?" Urya said, angered by the treatment of the battered (Less than its foe, but still) Ledyba. "She's acting like that dumbass" the word drew dirty looks from the people around him "from three days ago, dammit! The one that Ziri thrashed to hell and back-!"

"Look," Gale sighed, "Didn't we figure out yesterday that she has terrible nerves and that she's terrible at battling? Think about it, I think she's trying to present a perfect picture to the world of herself and now she's going overboard because of what's going on now."

Urya was at a loss for words.

* * *

The next two minutes passed like this.

One- The Mudkip was immune to Supersonics, but not that Hannah cared- She kept up a barrage of Comet Punches and Tackles, seething inside that she was taking so many point losses.

Two- Adam played a defensive strategy- Even resorting to telling his Mudkip to use Bide, which proceeded to deal Starlight one hell of a load of damage. Hannah smartened up after that one, but it still had its mark on its opponent- Namely, the Ledyba's lower right leg was heavily hurt, so it was dragging along.

Hannah was currently behind in points, which was far from what she had wanted to be- She had prayed for a battle-long lead, which was officially screwed by now…

* * *

Ziri wanted to scream, but he knew that he would get himself _and _her disqualified if he did that. And he had no intention of getting a friend humiliated because of him.

What could he do?

Nothing.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by May's quivery question "Pokemon thieves? Like… Team Rocket?"

Quivery as in shaking from repressed laughter, as Ziri realized from looking at her. "It's serious, dammit, but of course you wouldn't understand," he snarled, and went back to watching.

* * *

She knew that unless she turned things around she would lose, but she was beset by panic and anger, and Hannah was now jumping at every instinctive plan she could formulate within half a second- And considering it was her, who never thought things out, she was producing very bad plans.

What could Hannah do to win? There was no question which Pokemon was more powerful here, but she was too angry to think it through…

Even now, she called a Comet Punch that was instantly countered by an almost lazy "Water Gun" which succeeded, and now her points dropped further.

* * *

Gale sighed in resignation. "Sounds like the game's up," and lowered his head.

Urya remained silent, while Ragnarok only looked away.

* * *

In that instant, she had the brainwave.

Despite the fact that she hated him, totally, epically, and absolutely, she was forced to later admit (Only to herself) that he, despite having known him for less than a week, had literally seeped into her life as something that was as part of her as her arms.

The thought ran through her head in that instant of angry panic: _What would Ziri do?_

She thought for the next few seconds, during which her opponent tensed, wondering if she was just feinting this time. Instead, she called "Stay still!"

Although the audience murmured in confusion, Adam was busy goggling at her apparent moment of idiocy, and Starlight, giving her another dirty look, the Ledyba did as ordered.

Adam took a few seconds to get his wits, before he shouted "Fine! Water Gun, Mudkip!"

The Mudkip opened its mouth, already imagining the soaked Ledyba barreling around as it prepared to launch the stream of water-

"Light Screen!"

* * *

Ziri whistled in surprise at the fact that Ledyba's knew such a defensive move, but also at the sudden change of tactics Hannah had.

"Didn't know that was possible," he mused, watching the jet of water hit the glowing, golden wall that had appeared about of nowhere, and dispersing- And doing absolutely no damage to the user, who tauntingly buzzed from behind the Light Screen as it faded.

* * *

Adam's face, back on stage, turned purple at the sight of his points going down.

"What- What the-" he sputtered, before shouting "Who cares! Use Tackle!"

And so the Mud Fish charged forward…

But not that Hannah cared. "Reflect!" she called confidently.

Again, a barrier appeared, this one bluish in color. The Mudkip slammed head on, and bounced off, wailing in pain- Hannah saw her chance, and shouted "Comet Punch!"

_WakWakWakWakWak_.

A storm of direct blows rained down upon the Mudkip, who was already having difficulty keeping balance via the prior head collision, and sent it sprawling. Now, sensing her chance, since the final bits of mud covering the ears had been smashed off, she called "Use Supersonic!"

Immediately at the sound of the noise the Mudkip jumped up and began bashing its head on the floor, rather familiar everyone (Seeing that they'd been treated to this some four minutes ago...

Speaking of the minutes, there was thirty seconds left, and Hannah knew that she had wasted enough time. As her opponent sputtered in rage as his Pokemon thrashed itself upon the floor, she called "Starlight, now! Tackle!"

Starlight flew up ten feet above the stage, so that everyone could see the readied missile from below- And then he dived.

The Mudkip, after a particularly harsh self-inflicted bash of the head, looked up, woozy-

And was sent flying, where it landed, rolled over three times, and then came to a stop.

Fifteen seconds later, as Mudkip barely managed get himself onto his feet, the buzzer sounded.

Hannah turned and her breath caught in her throat.

There was maybe, at the angle she was looking at the scoreboard, a millimeter's difference between them.

The score one millimeter higher, against all the odds, belonged to her.

_Victory._

**So I HOPE you enjoyed this. Comments? Praise? Everything but flames? OCs? TELL ME IN A REVIEW, NAO!**

**With a cherry on top! **

**Next chapter- I'll finish the events in Violet City there. Then, we'll move on- The next two chapters? To the anonymous reviewer named JellyBrain, it'll be your spotlight!**

* * *


	16. Epic prelude to an epic battle

**Alright, I'll admit that this chapter was difficult to write. **

**I had multiple tests this week and the prospect of losing my computer privileges, thanks to a terrible math grade. Dammit, I'm a freakin' sophomore and I'm _already _dealing with AP Biology, AP World History, _and _Precal??? As in, precalculus?? Can't they let up in the slack even _slightly_? **

**Whatever. If you've got a lot of things you notice, I'll be very glad to redit to your desires, to those that review. **

**Happy Reading!!**

* * *

A minute later, after congratulations, Ziri slipped out, and of course nobody had a realization that he was missing.

After all, this was moment to savor for Hannah, who had made a ridiculously narrow escape- But he did not care. He had to get that thing of his mind, and he had to get out of this Contest Hall.

The thing in question- A Pokemon egg that Professor Elm had sent him. He wasn't going to miss it, after all the trouble he had gone through with Togepi's egg- Almost dying, meeting up with a new gang of pals, and this ridiculous Contest which Togepi had saved him from being humiliated at- So better now than later.

Eggs were nothing but trouble, but he supposed it was the good kind of trouble.

He knew that since there was eight people in the beginning of the round, there would be four battles- Therefore, he had to deal with getting back to the Contest Hall in five minutes. He prayed it wouldn't take long…

It was ten forty-five at that moment.

* * *

Five minutes later, having charged through the mostly-deserted streets, and having been forced to take the back door to avoid the massive crowd, he skidded to a stop in front of the Pokemon Center and walked right in.

And there, dead in a corner, currently enthralled by the news coverage of the Contest, was a guy in a lab coat that Ziri knew had to be an aide. Walking over, he made sure to snap his fingers to cut the surprise to a close…

After recovering and giving him thirteen different variations of "You were incredible" he snapped into business mode. "Alright, here's the egg, as I _think_" he was forced to repress laughter at this point "Professor Elm told you…"

"That idiot," Ziri mumbled, "I'll kill him." Then, he realized that the guy was, for a reason, new. "Hey, who are you, anyway?" he asked, realizing that he had never, ever seen him at the lab…

The guy blinked, and then Ziri realized with a shock that he was young. As in, ten or eleven-ish, something near Alex's age. "Oh, I'm from Kanto," he said, abashed, rubbing his head through his yellow hair. "I decided to transfer here…"

Ziri blinked. "I'm travelling with someone from Kanto-"

The guy nodded. "Yes, I've seen her… Alessandra, right-?"

Ziri raised an eyebrow. "I'm not one for that kind of long name, so could we stick with Alex?"

His counterpart scratched his head again. "Uh, okay… By the way, my name's Francesco Piaggesi, and here's the egg…"

He took a bluish-gray egg out of his pack, rather unlike Togepi's speckled egg, and hefted it. Ziri, realizing it was heavy, quickly took it from him, and weighed it, moving his hand up and down. Pretty heavy… Well, maybe for a ten-year old, but Ziri spent two hours a day doing workouts, and he was fifteen- So, he easily threw it up, much to Francesco's fearful shout, and caught it with just as ease.

"What?" he grumbled. "I'm fine, geez. Thanks, though," he added, and walked out, where he kept running, egg under an arm.

Neither, not even Francesco, who turned back to watching, noticed the green-haired boy watching them, glowering while he was at it.

Ziri had in actuality fifteen minutes to complete his run to the Pokemon Center thanks to a massive delay in the final battle of the round (A few lights accidentally got whacked off the ceiling), but he took up the entire period- Thanks to a phone call.

From his mother.

Ziri sighed, realizing that he should have called earlier, not his mother, and answered the call. "Hey mom," he said casually, "You've seen me on TV, right?"

"Of course," came the quiet voice, "You think that I don't know my own famous son?"

Ziri groaned as he sulked along to the back of the Contest Hall. "Actually…"

"You're doing incredible, you know. I never thought that you'd go that far in a week-"

Ziri couldn't help but grin sheepishly. "I had help-"

"That Mr. Pokémon person?"

Ziri groaned. "Well, yeah, but not just him… Didn't you talk with him when you called?"

"Of course. Didn't you talk with him about it?"

"Well, yeah…"

"I suppose you've also got yourself a harem of girls, from what Mr. Pokémon has told me-"

"Mom!"

"What? It's much better than what you had back home, eh?"

"It's only two people-"

"They're cute, aren't they? Especially the one who had the skimpy top-"

Ziri could feel his face coloring instantly. "Are you saying I'm-!?"

"Perverted? Of course not!" A chuckle, and his mother continued. "I'm just pointing out a fact that you inherited your father's good looks, you know…"

Ziri blinked, before saying "He's helped me already, besides the hereditery stuff. You know the backpack you gave me that you said was his…?"

"Yes?"

"There was a Pokeball in there… I've caught my first Pokemon with that ball. Well, my second, but-"

Aipom burst out of her Pokeball, chittering indignantly, and he heard laughter on the other end. "I suppose that's your, quote on quote, 'second Pokemon-?'"

Aipom heard, and chattered even louder.

Ziri sighed, and returned the Long Tail Pokemon to her Pokeball, which it did so- With lack of enthusiasm, as signaled by the slight rattling of the ball before it went still. Turning his mind back to the conversation, he grumbled "My Pokemon give me hell, but they're heaven at the same time for an odd reason…"

"That," came the mirth-filled reply, "is exactly the thing my son would say."

"Is that," Ziri groaned, "A good or bad thing?"

"No… It's just that-"

She broke off at that point, and Ziri was left staring at the phone for the next thirty seconds before his mother began speaking again.

"This reminds me so much of when he was alive…"

He blinked twice in shock. "Wha-?"

"You're father… He was so much like you, but you're so different. When he started out, he had many friends- And when he died he had few, if any. But you've left home with nobody to help you or support you, swearing to never come back, and you've already made friends with so many people.

"I believe that you'll be famous, just like the one in your family before you. It runs in your blood."

The phone clicked off, and Ziri was left staring at it, the last words ringing through his head.

_It runs in your blood…_

* * *

The crowd was growing restless as the forced ten-minute break since the five minute battle- Fifteen minutes total- And so welcomed the announcer coming back on stage, microphone in hand. "Alright folks!" she announced, and they quieted down immediately. "This Contest won't last further… After this! First up, in battle round number 2…"

The tension was palpable, even to Ziri who walked in to the audience seats by accident, still in a daze from the conversation. Looking around…

"Hannah Rangzeski versus May Maple!"

Ziri instantly felt a sick sensation in his stomach.

_Not good._

That was the thought of six people- Synthia, Ziri, Gale, Urya, Alex, and of course Hannah. May looked nervous as always, but everyone knew that if one was declared the Princess of Hoenn then any amateur, which Hannah was, was guaranteed to lose.

Ziri broke off into a run for the waiting room.

* * *

May walked out as always. Hannah remained in the room for a full ten seconds more before she slowly stood up, an expression that could only be described as terrified…

And, as if to only compound on her misery, tripped over a kink in the carpet made by overzealous pushing of a chair. She didn't even make a single physical attempt to stop herself, so engrossed in the inevitability of defeat.

Well, if one thing was absolute, Ziri caught her, her face an inch from the floor (Literally) and shoved her up back into a standing position via the shoulders, where she stared into his confused face. "Listen," he said urgently, and she could hear his worry. "I don't know what the hell they were thinking putting you with _her_, but- Just stop it here! Forfeit!"

Silence, before the girl's mind began to click into gear.

Hannah remembered what he had said about when and where one should forfeit, and she knew that this fit perfectly- But anger was coming to her defense. "You think that I'm a coward?"

Ziri blinked, before he quickly elaborated.

"There's a fine line between bravery and idiocy, if you haven't noticed-!"

"I'm going, whether you like it or not," she snapped, rage peaking, "Now get your hands off me! I'm not going to listen to anyone, and I sure as hell won't listen to you."

"Dig your own grave," he said, his voice frighteningly quiet after a long silence.

"It'll be your grave if you don't _move_! And it'll be hers either way!"

And with fury becoming her drive, she ripped his hands off his shoulders, and he simply stood aside and let her out.

The room filled with silence, while the lone person sitting in the chair (As in the winner of the match Ziri had deemed unimportant for watching) couldn't help but dryly remark "How feisty is she?"

Ziri gave him a dirty look. "I have to deal with her every day, genius. And I _never _saw her like this, okay?"

"Seriously?" came the mirth filled response.

"Put your money where your mouth is when I crush you," Ziri growled, nettled, and was slightly satisfied to hear the other occupant of go silent.

Though he had the feeling it might be an empty threat, whether or not he was superior to him…

* * *

Hannah didn't lose the ferocious snarl on her face when she reached the stage, prompting the announcer to take three steps back. "Um…" she began nervously, "Shall we begin?"

"Yes," Hannah snapped, and the announcer took another step, precariously close to the edge of the stage.

"Err… Begin!"

With that, both coordinators grabbed simultaneously a Pokeball, and hurled it into the air.

"Munchlax, take the stage!"

"Go, Flora!"

The Big Eater Pokemon popped out, and proceeded to sit down on the ground in apparent indifference to the Leaf Pokemon who proceeded to wave its leaf in the general direction of the audience, who immediately began swooning in adoration.

* * *

Ziri raised an eyebrow at the cheerful one, who was in sharp contrast to her fuming trainer. "Funny she can't smell it-"

Ziri ate his own words in the next two seconds.

The next second, after taking a concerned look at her trainer, Flora flapped her leaf outwards at Hannah, who jerked in surprise at the smell- And immediately changed her complexion.

* * *

Ziri whirled around and slammed his head into the wall.

And knocked himself out, much to the shock of the other person in the room.

His last words: "I should never predict… Anything… E… ver… "

* * *

Hannah inhaled the scent, which had immediately calmed her down to her senses. Looking around, she felt the slightly muted jitters of stage fright, while half the audience had fainted from the sent wafting through the air.

Now she remembered what she had done to Ziri, and she felt a twinge of guilt- But she brushed it away with the thought of forfeiting, which instantly repulsed her.

Who would be dumb enough to? And besides, even though she was scared, she felt confident- If Alex had managed to last almost the full five minutes against her, then why couldn't she last all five?

"Begin!"

Now May called "Use Focus Punch!"

Instantly remembering what Ziri's Pokedex had said about said attack, Hannah called "Razor Leaf!"

The leaves flew, and Munchlax tripped over itself in an attempt to dodge it- Which partially worked, since one leaf had struck it on the head, leaving a deep cut. But more importantly the light surrounding Munchlax's right fist faded, and Hannah was satisfied in that May's points had a double whammy to deal with, from the failed attack and the fact her counterattack had hit…

Instantly, May changed tack and shouted "Metronome!"

Suddenly Munchlax's eye closed, as it started waggling its now-glowing fingers. Going pale, Hannah cried "Get away!"

Not a moment too soon, because suddenly the Big Eater Pokemon began to jump up and down, before it opened its mouth…

And sent forth a glob of purple goo that landed exactly where the Chikorita had been a few seconds earlier. As it sank into the dirt, Flora backed up, looking disgusted, while her trainer couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

Ziri, who had woken up by now, whipped out his Pokedex after he calmed down from realizing that the… Thing… Metronome. The electronic encyclopedia immediately chimed:

"**Toxic, a poison-type move. The user releases a vicious poison that sinks into the opponents body and sickens them into submission.**"

Ziri winced at the last part.

* * *

"What happened with her bad mood when she came on?" Urya asked, slightly confused.

"Might have been something with Ziri," Gale said inattentively, as he wondered why so many Pokemon in this Contest knew Metronome…

* * *

Now, seeing her points drop further, May called "Solarbeam!"

Hannah blinked in shock at the fact that the thing in front of her knew such an attack, but when she saw the glowing ears of the Munchlax she knew it was no joke. "Flora, Vine Whip!" she ordered. "Aim for the legs!" She added, wondering if she could distract it just like last time…

The vines from the neck of the Leaf Pokemon slammed against the Big Eater's right leg, which tripped and fell flat on its face- Where at that moment the Solar Beam was released. Although Hannah's second objective of stopping the attack via distraction did not work (In addition to doing damage), it did something better-The misfired beam upon hitting the ground (Which was in Munchlax's face) blew, sending the heavy body of the Pokemon flying into the air.

With a thump and a groan of "Muuunnnn…" it hit the ground, but got up- Woozily. Sensing the advantage, Hannah shouted "Use Razor Leaf!"

The barrage of leafs again flew from the Chikorita's head, and spiraled towards the wobbly Munchlax-

"Munchlax, use Stockpile!"

The Big Eater Pokemon glowed purple with light as it scrunched its eyes, and although the full barrage of leaves struck, Munchlax didn't seem to harmed much, to Hannah's confusion. May then called, slightly smugly, "Swallow!"

Making a sudden swallowing motion, as per ordered, the purple light disappeared- But to everyone's shock, the wounds on the skin of the panda-shaped Pokemon began closing up. Now, May ordered "Use Metronome again!"

Again came the finger-waggling and odd eye patterns, and quickly Hannah shouted "Sweet Scent!"

The crowd couldn't help but call jealous "Do it towards us!" as Flora waved her leaf at her foe…

Who suddenly jumped forward, through the sweet-smelling cloud of pink vapor in a roar that did not belong to its vocal chords- Rather, the pure speed it was going at- and slammed a fist into Flora's side, said fist glowing with a white light- But that was no Focus Punch.

* * *

Ziri, being one with a Pokedex, instantly figured exactly what it was. "**Mach Punch,**" his handheld device proclaimed emotionlessly, "**a fighting-type move. The user strikes with a blow that travels at the speed of sound, almost always striking first.**"

"Ouch," he mumbled, wincing, as he put it away, and the other male occupant in the room sat forward.

"You've got a Pokedex?" he said in disbelief.

"Duh," Ziri said, slightly nonplussed. "Doesn't everyone have one-?"

"Only the ones who actually get a starter Pokemon. I got my Ninetails as a Vulpix, and she's my first Pokemon," he said proudly.

Ziri shrugged. "Fine, then." With that, he turned back to the screen.

He then wished he hadn't looked.

* * *

In what had happened in the instant he had lost attention of the screen, May had ordered a Focus Punch to capitalize on the opening created by the randomized Mach Punch. The moment Flora looked up, the fist, backed by concentration, sent the Leaf Pokemon flying.

Flora took five seconds getting up, in which the judges had _almost _called it- But of course, almost never got you first place in roulette, where the ball falls a millimeter short of the number that you bet on.

Which meant Hannah was still fighting, although this time, unlike her berserk fit with her Ledyba, she did not berate her Pokemon. She was too busy thinking about how close a to one-minute knockout her opponent had gotten…

First things first, however. "Use Synthesis!" she ordered.

Although she shuddered from the sensation of the massive bruises healing, Flora nonetheless stood up, the soft green light intensifying and then dispersing. May's points, as Hannah could see, took a beating from the recovery maneuver, which she had no qualms about- What she did was how much her own had dropped, which was now almost the same (Three-fourths) before May had landed those lucky hits.

Two hits had knocked her down by that much?

She quickly dismissed the thought upon hearing May call "Let's use Solarbeam!"

As the ears of the panda-like Pokemon glowed, taking in the light, Hannah shouted "Use Sweet Scent!"

Again, the pink, scented cloud drifted over to the Big Eater Pokemon who proceeded to jerk its head in response to the smell and then fire off the beam of compressed light a few feet off target. Although it _almost _hit its intended target's owner, Hannah did not flinch- Rather, she was too busy thinking to notice.

_If the Sweet Scent is its weakness…_

First, she'd have to damage it to let down the Munchlax's guard. "Use Poisonpowder!" she called, and was satisfied to see the leaf waving but this time releasing a sinister, condensed cloud of purple powder instead of a transparent puff of pink spores.

"Use another Metronome!" May shouted, looking rather worried.

* * *

Gale groaned at the apparent cheesiness of the battle, which was quickly becoming a Metronome-fest. "What else does that thing know besides Metronome, Focus Punch, and Solarbeam-?"

* * *

Not that May heard him, as the Metronome resulted in…

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

* * *

"I _pray _that thing explodes," Ziri mumbled.

Maybe that was the thing that jinxed her.

* * *

Munchlax just stood there, to the titters of the crowd while the purple cloud began to get awfully close for comfort-

Until suddenly it opened its mouth and let loose what everyone in the audience and beyond could only describe as earthshaking.

The cloud of purple dust was instantly blasted aside (Though not blasted back at the Chikorita) by the stream of vibrating air which sent Flora flying through the air, leaf and legs flailing helplessly- Until she hit the wall.

Hannah almost lost it right then and there, but managed to control herself from a total breakdown- Well, barely. "Flora!" she screamed, as she saw that the Chikorita twitched feebly as it bounced twice on the floor.

* * *

Ziri couldn't help but shiver at the power of what had happened- The Pokedex entry only made it worse.

"**Hyper Voice, a normal-type move. The user unleashes a massive burst of sound that stirs up the air itself into a projectile.**"

"Oh, geez," he groaned, "This is not good." With that, he ran out of the room.

Maybe that was the understatement of the century…

* * *

Flora managed to push herself up- But two seconds later the Chikorita's left leg gave, and it again collapsed.

Hannah had frozen in fear- There was no other way to interpret it, given the expression on her face and the fact she was violently shaking. Therefore, even though her Pokemon had just the move to raise them out of the ditch they were stuck in, there was no other way to say it- She was too scared to say it.

That was when something hit her from behind, as in flew out of the side door of the stage and hit her on the back of the head. Hard.

She stumbled in surprise, and whirled around, ready to scream in rage at whoever had chucked what, only to realize that nobody was there- And then the enormity of what was going on hit her again.

The crowd tittered at the apparently random stumbling, although it was a guilty chuckle- Who wanted to laugh at the underdog?

This time, she had better control of herself, and taking a deep breath, called "Synthesis!"

The light again flowed through the Chikorita's small body, who stood up, the left front leg immediately healed.

She then gave Hannah a look- As in, a look that said, _about time._

She looked at the ground behind her.

A rock. As in, a half-centimeter wide pebble that lay there innocently.

She knew of only one person that had a way of chucking rocks at things with such accuracy, and immediately felt a flush of embarrassment on her face.

_Ziri_.

* * *

"I think that went well," said boy spoke cheerily, and went back to the waiting room.

* * *

Slightly enraged that she'd been saved via outside influence, she shouted "Use Razor Leaf!" with a slightly menacing tone.

Flora, performed it- But slightly painfully, thanks to the fact that Synthesis hadn't healed _all _of her injuries. The leaves flew, and May flinched slightly as Munchlax staggered with a groan.

"Counter with Solarbeam!"

"Vine Whip!"

This time, although the vines smashed against Munchlax's body, the aim was true- Hannah growled in anger as again the Leaf Pokemon flew through the air, and landed with a solid _thud_. However, Flora got up, shaking it off rather easily, and her owner was satisfied to see that she was slowly, but surely catching up-

"Focus Punch!"

"Synthesis again," Hannah countered, noting the slightly hurt complexion of her Pokemon, "And use-"

This time, only partially did the wounds heal, and Flora began to stagger around. Confused, she stared at it…

Before she realized that the Munchlax was six feet away from her own Chikorita. "Jump away!"

Of course, it missed- Barely. She let out a sigh of relief, before realizing that Synthesis wasn't working…

She dismissed it. It was only a one time thing, wasn't it-?

"Poisonpowder!"

"Lie down!"

Hannah blinked once, twice, then scowled angrily as the powder simply floated over the Big Eater Pokemon's head. "Vine Whip!"

As the powder floated over, the vines slapped against Munchlax's body, who rolled over from impact-

"Let's use Stockpile!"

It stood up, with a look of concentration, as the purple light flowed over it- Hannah instantly recognized what was about to happen next and yelled "Stop it with Razor Leaf!"

Of course, then she remembered the side effect.

The leaves, just like last time, bounced off, with little to no effect, and no May called very smugly "Swallow!"

With that, Munchlax's collection of bruises, scratches, most disappeared, and Hannah groaned, tensing for the next exchange-

There was none.

The buzzer rang, and when Hannah looked she felt nothing but ice inside.

Her points were a third of May's.

A third.

* * *

Ziri winced and closed his eyes.

Urya and Gale, while Alex and Synthia in the lobby (Staying a good ten feet from each other) mimicked the motion.

* * *

It was over- She had lasted the full five minutes. In one way, she had beaten Alex's attempt to defeat her.

But she had been utterly and totally crushed in those five minutes. In that way, she had lost.

She returned Flora to her Pokeball, and walked away into the stage's side entrance, still feeling like she was in a dream- She couldn't have lost _that _bad…

A minute later, Hannah did not register Ziri observing her worriedly, as she kept going.

Ziri put himself in front of her right then and there. "You okay?" he said softly, before mentally berating himself for asking such a dumb question.

Of _course _she wasn't! Any idiot could have seen that, which meant that he must be worse than an idiot…

She didn't say anything, but only kept looking at him with a blank expression that was beginning to scare both him and everyone else behind him, who had sneaked into this hall to the side of the audience seats out of curiosity.

"Um, Hannah, I was… Uh, sorta right about the forfeiting thing," he began meekly, and immediately cowered, prepared for the demonic fist to knock him unconscious.

She didn't do anything, but still looked at him.

He tried again. "Hello? Isn't this the part where you knock me out cold?"

Still nothing.

He was seriously beginning to doubt her sanity when she burst into tears and flung herself so hard at him it knocked him backwards onto the floor.

She buried her head in his chest, sobbing unashamedly as Ziri swore as colorfully and as violently as possible- Well, for the first three seconds until he realized that she wasn't trying out a new method of causing extreme bodily harm and was simply holding onto him for comfort.

"I… was… so stupid…" she sobbed, as his shirt instantly became soaked from the outburst of tears. "I… should've… should've listened…"

He didn't know where he had learned what he was going to do next, but all he did was slowly stroke her back as she clung to him like glue. "It's okay," he said softly, "It's okay, everyone hates to give up before than can try-"

"Why- Why," she continued tearfully, "Why didn't I listen-?"

To that, Ziri had no answer. Nor did anyone around them, who had crowded them around silently.

When Hannah raised her head a few seconds later, her eyes were remarkably clear as the sapphire blue pair stared into Ziri's steel gray ones.

Then, immediately going red at the position they were in, with his hand on her back, she delivered the long awaited knockout punch.

The person who Ziri had been stuck with in the waiting room turned pale, and ran away. As in, turned heel and literally got on all fours in an effort to get away from the thoroughly awkward scene.

"Um," Synthia began nervously, "You knocked him out right before his match-"

"He was pissing me off," she said in a don't-you-dare-argue-with-me tone, "And besides, all he needs is thirty seconds to recuperate."

Ziri stirred as she got off him, groaning as his arm moved- Out of instinct- Against the side of his jaw, where blood was flowing in a small trickle. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't help but grin and say, "What took you so long?"

Her response was to kick him viciously and then walk away.

"She is the most brutal-" Synthia began in fury, but a look from Ziri, just getting, up, silenced her.

"She punches me every day, mainly for the idiotic things I do-"

"But-"

"I've been through worse."

With that, he waltzed off to the stage, while Synthia stood there, confused, and the others gave nervous chuckles.

* * *

Ziri barely paid any attention in the battle- All he did was send out Aipom, who was rather angry at not being declared his first and best Pokemon and so wanted to prove herself in a frenzy, and told it with a hint of laziness to keep using Swagger.

The result- Five minutes of a Surskit repeatedly bashing its head against the ground.

The final verdict- Not pretty, and the owner pretty much had no points left when five minutes was left while Ziri lounged around on stage, Aipom was busy trash talking in glee, and the crowd roared with laughter with every head-banging that the Surskit took.

From itself.

Ziri still-unnamed opponent ran out of the Contest Hall in tears, and that was the end- Almost.

* * *

"He wasn't even paying attention," Alex moaned, clutching her head in an attempt to comprehend the lazy style that she had just witnessed. Lazy wasn't actually the right word for it- Lax, no, noncommittal, no, anything describing not truly doing anything at all wasn't the right word.

Was there a word for the laziness level beyond laziness?

She was wrong at all counts.

* * *

Ziri had fibbed laziness and adopted a pacifist's strategy (Let the idiot kill him/herself instead of actually using effort to do it- Did serious trash talking count?- while you dance, in Aipom's case) in order to give him time to think.

How the heck was he going to survive a battle with May?

He had been seriously thinking that he should let this guy win, but where was the fun in that? He wanted all the experience he could get, anyway- If the Pokemon League was a tough as everyone said, then this was an awesome way to get up on top of the competition.

So, in the five minutes break, he chose to head over to the control room instead of the waiting room, where he knew the tension between the final two remaining contestants would be overwhelming.

Of course, the control room's normal occupants were not pleased at the unwelcome intrusion and proceeded to rant at him in intricacies of controlling the stage, lights, and cameras, and the general why-you-shouldn't-be-in-here-garbage.

All while Ziri took a seat while their faces turned red and a minute later they fell over out of asphyxiation.

Eleven thirty-one exactly in the morning.

* * *

The gang of five- Well, no, six- minus one person gathered in the lobby, feeling rather indignant that Ziri had done the very definition of nothing during the previous battle.

Alex continued her rant. "No coordinator is supposed to do that! They're supposed to take charge, command their Pokemon's every move, and they have to put their heart into it-!"

Urya was nodding eagerly, planning to give Ziri hell once he came back over this, while Synthia and Gale held back, mildly disinterested as Ragnarok moved farther and farther away from his overexcited owner.

Hannah simply sat in a chair, relieving the worst moments of the battle.

The freeze-up.

The fact that Synthesis had stopped working- Well, no, that was too close to the bell to matter.

The Stockpile-and-Swallow combinations.

She wanted to scream at her own idiocy, but unlike Ziri she had no Pokedex- Well, it was broken- And no, she hadn't tripped over it. She wished she could turn back time, and perform every move perfectly-

_Nobody can turn back time_.

She wondered what Ziri was doing to prep himself for the showdown…

* * *

Thinking was the only thing that Ziri could do in this situation, but it was a reasonable one, while he shut out the sounds of gagging from lack of oxygen by the control room managers.

_May always begins with something of a probing strike…_

The Focus Punch last time had been something of an exception- But then again weren't Chikorita's supposed to be normally docile? That might have been a variation, but…

_Then she puts on the pressure from a distance._

Solarbeams, a few lucky Metronomes…

_Then, when she sees the opponent in disarray, she moves in for the kill. _

_That _Focus Punch right after the lucky Mach Punch? Perfect example.

It took him two minutes to see the strategy through.

The counter that he devised:

_Start strong right from the beginning. Or, calmly counter whatever she chucks at you…_

He was leaning towards the second choice, since he hated blindly rushing into a dark room, the dark room being whatever May had in mind.

_Rush in, and keep up the pressure- Up close._

Which meant rushing into the dark room of doom, but what the heck. What other way lead out?

_And then, keep it up. It's only five minutes…_

That part he wasn't so sure about.

Five minutes rolled around, and now Ziri looked up as the controllers returned to their posts, shooting him nasty glares to behold the announcer back on stage.

"It's been a wild and exciting Contest, folks, but we've seen nothing yet! The last match today starts here and now- The wild card of everyone here, the brute force expert, Zirienji Axlhedron versus the prim, classy, and veteran Princess of Hoenn, May Maple!"

Even from the back of the building Ziri felt the walls shake from the sheer force of the cheering as he got up and began walking to victory- Or his doom.

He had a nasty feeling that right now he was gravitating towards the latter…

* * *

**And that's that. Remember, if you have any suggestions, requests, OCs, feedback, error reports, or just want to give me a shout, review.**

**Pretty please? With fried Torchic eggs on top!!**


	17. Endgame: Violet City

****

It's been a short, long, and officially horrible week. My luck was terrible (Two Fs, but at the very least they were small ones), but I some how found the concentration needed to finish this.

**Oh, and on a side, more in-story note, this is going to be the last of the chapters based in Violet City. I'm planning the next arc to be somewhat shorter (But still pretty long), so keep in touch!! **

**On another side note- Triumvirate of Rei, and JellyBrain, ss, or whatever the hell you go by- This chapter is dedicated to you two. **

**Happy Reading! **

* * *

May entered first, waving to the crowd-

And then there was nobody there.

They waited five seconds, expectantly, before Ziri, who somehow had the luck to perfectly enter at that moment, stepped through the side entrance to the roar of the audience, some who stomped their feet in tandem. He could feel the stage itself quivering from the force of the footfalls, but he did not stop- He simply kept his balance and his head held high as he took his spot.

May stared at him from the other, and the air between them literally became so dense that everyone, watching with bated breath, began to be drawn in mentally…

"Begin!"

Ziri took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took a Pokeball from his belt, where he held it in front of his face for a second, whispering "Let's finish this with a bang."

"Venusaur, take the stage!"

"Cyndaquil, flame on!"

The now-popular Fire Mouse Pokemon appeared, back blazing- Who then took a good look at the Seed Pokemon that popped out across from him, and jumped backwards, squealing in panic- Before he mustered up his bravery and stepped forward.

* * *

"Geez," Gale groaned, having abandoned his seat in front of the stage in favor of sitting with everyone else in the lobby, "His Cyndaquil's the bravest Pokemon I've seen, and it's scared of _that _thing. With good reason…"

Houndour popped out of his Pokeball, snout held high in pride- Until he saw the Seed Pokemon on screen and immediately backed away.

"And he seconds that motion…"

Alex, meanwhile was doing something productive and checking the Pokedex she had-

"**Venusaur, the Seed Pokemon. The flower on its back allows it to absorb solar energy as an alternate form of food, while it also releases a soothing fragrance.**"

"That didn't say much," Hannah groused, knees to her chest while she sat watching.

"Yes it did," Urya interjected. "It meant-"

"Watch out for that flower," Synthia finished.

* * *

"_Eww,_" May's Venusaur said, wrinkling her nose, "_What ate you, half-digested you then vomited you back up-?_"

"_Are you kidding?!_" Cyndaquil squealed indignantly, "_Try looking at yourself, you overgrown piece of garbage that's so rotten that a mutated flower's growing on you-_"

"_This flower is my pride, and if you insult it-_"

"_Let's see how it is when I burn it to a crisp!_"

"_Let's see if you __**can, **__weakling-_"

"_Let's see if __**you **__can put your money where your mouth is, you walking freak show_!"

In that moment, May shouted "Venusaur, Razor Leaf-"

Unfortunately for her, Ziri's lightning fast response cut her off instantly.

"Ember!"

The leaves versus the flames- For some odd reason, the flames, although smaller, won because of the rule of nature- If you set fire to a leaf, it burns. And then disintegrates. That's exactly what happened, and May's face flushed when she realized how easily she'd been countered.

"Sweet Scent!"

The pink powder floated through the air towards the Fire Mouse- However, Ziri shouted with a counter of "Smokescreen!"

The smoke billowing from its back had the added force of hot air buoying it on, and so actually sent both it and the Sweet Scent clouds at Venusaur, who immediately had a faraway look in her eyes as she sniffed it- And then began coughing at the smoke.

May looked rather furious at this double whammy her points took, and shouted "Don't breath it in! Charge out and use Vine Whip!"

"Dodge them with Quick Attack, but don't hit it!"

May blinked, along with everyone who had intelligence.

_Don't hit it-?_

Sure, the vines that came out of Venusaur's back missed again and again as they tried to slam into the much smaller body of the Fire Mouse- But, as a blur, Cyndaquil simply whizzed to the side, away, or even leaped over them- All while the large four-legged Pokemon literally turned red with fury.

Finally, the vines came down in a guillotine motion, and Ziri seized his chance.

"Flame Wheel!"

The much smaller Pokemon became a literal flaming wheel that zipped forward, sparing the vines from Venusaur's back nothing to hit but the dirt where it was standing prior; now, the flaming and rolling sphere slipped right through the gap between the grounded vines…

And smashed dead into its face, sending a burst of flame up from the point of impact.

Venusaur roared in pain as it somehow skidded a foot backwards, the flames leaving an angry (But not permanent, much to Ziri and Hannah's separate, but shared disappointment) mark on its face. The skidding was being deemed impossible because Venusaur's weighed something like two hundred pounds, while the offender weighed less ten times less.

Then again, if you become a fast _and _flaming juggernaut, and you're opponent is a freakin' walking plant…

"Venusaur, use Synthesis!" May called, hoping to land a single blow to Ziri's so-far untouched points-

"Smokescreen above it!"

May's mouth dropped open.

_He's-_!

* * *

The jaws of everyone in the lobby dropped open identically when they saw the smoke hover right above the Venusaur, letting little light through. As a result, the Synthesis had done _barely_ any real recovery work- Which the judges had obviously not seen, since May's points only dropped further."How the hell-?" Synthia said in disbelief, watching, but then Hannah cut in.

"He treats this thing like a Gym battle, not a Contest battle. Which essentially means-"

"He's so thick-headed that he can't see the difference between them," Alex finished. "Which means-"

"He's trying to defensively muscle his way through… With what looks like hit-and-run tactics," Gale said thoughtfully.

Bingo.

* * *

Ziri was breathing a sigh of relief, that he'd done this much psychological so early.

Four minutes more of this insane gauntlet to ride out, taking potshots along the way…

"Venusaur, let's use Solarbeam!"

Ziri groaned, before he shouted "Use Smokescreen again, same area!"

Of course, even thought the rather large palm tree on the back of the Seed Pokemon still glowed after this, the rate of light absorption was immediately cut- Ziri took his chance, and not wanting to get close again shouted "Ember!"

The bolts of flame flew, crashing into Venusaur, who merely grimaced, most of her focus being on absorbing the small shafts of light filtering from the thinning smoke above…

Noting this, Ziri called "Keep it up until my signal!"

Cyndaquil complied, raining down the flames that began to look a bit too hot for Venusaur's comfort. However, May also saw this, and decided to call an early end to _it_. "Fire the Solarbeam, now!" she shouted.

Ziri's eyes widened. "Move, now-!"

The palm tree bent forward, and then the beam of condensed light flew, scattering the oncoming flames-

The beam struck Cyndaquil, who had not moved to the side fast enough, and sent him flying- But it was only a glancing blow, and besides it wasn't even effective anyway, as May say when Cyndaquil popped up, back blazing and squealing with fury.

Although Ziri's points did not, it was a literal drop in the bucket, compared to May's who now had half of her points down. As in, a drop in the ocean of Ziri's points, who looked just like one compared to a much shallower lake that May possessed.

Two minutes in, and Ziri still had the massive advantage…

* * *

"Whoa," Urya said, agape, "How's he doing this? This'll be the- The-"

He obviously couldn't find the words, since he still didn't have an idea of how appeals went, but Synthia calmly finished for him: "One of the greatest upsets in history?"

"Uh, yeah! That!" he said brightly.

This was only making Hannah feel worse, as watching the one who had defeated her so badly getting thrown around by someone who had actually started his journey a day later than her. "What makes him so… _good_," she mumbled, wanting to simultaneously smash his face in, and to fall onto her knees and kiss his feet for utterly destroying her previous tormenter.

She was going to sit the fence on that one- Being charged for murder was not on her list of priorities and showing humility of that degree was not exactly her forte.

* * *

May immediately opened the next round of attacks with a call of "Petal Dance!"

Suddenly, a storm of pink said petals billowed out of the palm tree on May's back; Ziri, remembering this very attack from when May's Skitty had been busy using Assist called confidently "Burn them all with Ember-!"

That obviously did not work, for Ziri immediately realized that for every petal Cyndaquil burned two more would immediately replace it- Noticing that the billowing cloud was beating out the flames Cyndaquil was launching, Ziri was suddenly struck by panic.

_Even Cyndaquil's not going to survive something that damn big…_

Then it struck him. He didn't have to stop it dead in its tracks.

He could muscle right through.

Taking a deep breath, knowing just how badly this could go, Ziri yelled "Stop using Ember and charge through!"

The crowd gasped at this, for even it knew how a resilient fire-type like Cyndaquil, even this Cyndaquil, would be committing suicide with such an order. However, the Fire Mouse immediately charged, and that's when everyone heard the second part of Ziri's orders-

"Flame Wheel!"

Now his intentions became clear: Charge, but burn everything in your way first. Cyndaquil yet again became a burning, rolling sphere that smashed through the newly uninhibited- But all-too burnable- storm of petals, trailing the ashen remains of burned debris behind him. On the other side, the much smaller Pokemon continued the forward motion, seeking to slam into his foe once more- But not if May could help it.

"Earthquake!"

Ziri's eyes widened- In all the years that he had spent in front of the television, he had known this move to be devastation to fire-types, and if his Pokemon could shoot flames out of its back…

"Jump- No, jump NOW!"

There was a very good reason for hesitating- If he had ordered a jump at that instant, Cyndaquil would have been struck by the shockwave that ripped through the ground anyway, since that would have been premature in timing. Even so, Ziri almost screamed when he saw that the jump_ looked _like it hadn't been successful, either in height or timing- And breathed a sigh of relief.

Barely. Just barely, the fact of which was being beaten into Cyndaquil's head given the way he was trembling.

"Quick, get back here-"

"I don't think so!" May shouted, not wanting to lose the advantage. "Grab it with Vine Whip!"

As Cyndaquil turned to flee, it suddenly stumbled, and Ziri suddenly realized that there was a network of scratches on his side- Which must have been…

_Damn, even Flame Wheel didn't really work against Petal Dance-?_

There was no time to think, however, as the Venusaur, relishing her chance to extract revenge, snagged the Fire Mouse Pokemon's small body, crushing it with a bit more force than necessary, bringing forth a squeal of pain, and brought it upwards. As in, really high upwards.

Ziri couldn't help but feel the panic rise in his voice as he shouted "Fire off a Swift at that thing's head!"

It… Sort of worked. The yellow stars that flew from Cyndaquil's mouth smashed into an eyeball, bringing forth a roar of pain- And making Venusaur drop its held cargo.

From the very, very top of the stage, barely grazing the ceiling- About a good fifty feet.

Ziri's mind went blank at that instant.

_Fifty feet. _

_Nothing, unless you're less than ten pounds or have feathers and wings, is going to survive a fall like that with no injuries._

He had five seconds, roughly calculated thanks to the advanced physics course he had taken a long time ago in school, to improvise something to save his best friend, or risk instant defeat.

One second passed by.

Four left.

_Cyndaquils have flame vents on their backs. _

_The flame vents cover pretty much every part of it. _

Okay, that was a start, but how was he going to use it?

_Shoot flames as much as possible? _

Possibly, but simply firing flames at something did not guarantee that you'd get thrown backwards- And it should be noted that as of now, this particular Cyndaquil knew nothing more than to fire brief bolts of the hot stuff…

Two seconds. Three left.

_Fire a Swift at the ground as hard as possible?_

Not a good idea, since Swifts had the same problem as Embers- You didn't get much kick out of a miniature barrage of miniature things.

Then, just as the one corner of his mind ticked off the third second that he had out of five, he had the idea.

"Cyndaquil, turn your back at the ground, and flame on at full power!" he yelled, wondering afterwards how he'd gotten the words out so fast.

Impossibly, in those two seconds he had left his Pokemon got itself turned through the air and directed its back dead at the floor.

The two- Ziri and Cyndaquil- were so alike in how they thought, that Cyndaquil had instantly understood the _other _message behind the order.

Brace for impact.

Five feet above the ground, everyone was forced to cover their ears at a sound that could only be described as earshattering.

Ziri actually felt the shockwave from what happened, but even though his entire head ached from hearing the sound, he managed to see that the flames had generated an explosion dead out of the flame vents. The flames were so hot that Ziri couldn't help but marvel in the size of the crater that had formed- And the recoil had been so strong that Cyndaquil actually popped up three feet in the air.

Everyone in the lobby had heard the explosion, even if they were in the lobby- But they heard the sound, in all the glory that the acoustically incompetent sound equipment could give them (As in, shaking speakers), right on TV.

As of now, they were all staring, wondering what the heck had they just seen, even as Cyndaquil completed his delayed fall- With a tenth less of the force that should have been physically possible.

Cyndaquil rolled along the ground for two seconds exactly before he uncurled into a sitting position, extremely woozy. Deservedly so.

May looked like she was in total shock- Her Pokemon was not much better off. Ziri, who had the sense to cover his ears at the moment, felt his vision blur slightly, and then come back into full focus-

But his head hurt like hell, so he just closed his eyes, waiting for it fade while the timer ran…

* * *

"That," Alex said shakily, "is the closest save _ever_."

"You said it," Gale affirmed.

Hannah now wanted to scream at herself for being so stupid, only ten minutes ago against the same person who was literally being smacked around with kiddy gloves on.

But she held onto herself. Barely.

* * *

May was first to regain her voice. "Venusaur, use Poisonpowder!"

Ziri blinked, before he grinned.

After all, which Poisonpowder in this Contest had actually hit-?

"Cyndaquil, blast them away with-"

Then he realized was a pang of horror that his Pokemon had still not recovered from its wooziness- And in the process had currently began walking in direction of the newly formed cloud of purple dust-

_Crap_.

"Listen!" he shouted, hearing desperation in his own voice, "Get away from the cloud! What're you-?"

As if in total opposition to his orders, his Pokemon then jumped at the dust floating through the air-

And then, in the middle of the jump his Pokemon regained his senses- And promptly breathed in a mouthful of the lethal dust.

Ziri groaned and placed a hand to his forehead as his Pokemon squealed in panic as what appeared to be a sickly green tinge began to manifest itself in the cream-colored part of its skin…

"Get out of there, now!"

Now listening to every word he said, Cyndaquil dived out of the cloud and promptly fell over, twitching feebly at what was obvious a very nasty sensation from inhaling the poisonous powder. May, looking like she couldn't believe her luck, nonetheless called "Follow up with Razor Leaf!"

"Use your back and burn'em away!" Ziri called, quickly playing on the fact that Cyndaquil was facing away from the Venusaur in question.

It worked. Well, sort of- Although the flames did roast the vast majority of the leaves, the leaves still did carry their momentum and sent the Fire Mouse over its head forward. Before it had finished rolling, May called, this time composed, "Vine Whip!"

This time, May was not looking to left up the opponent- No, it was simply to smash it into submission. Cyndaquil yelped in panic as the sphere that he was curled into was bashed again and again- Ziri quickly countered with a call of "Ember! Keep rolling!"

The flames that came out of the flaming echidna's back shaped themselves into fireballs- Which, as Cyndaquil clumsily rolled around, scorched the Vines and sent Venusaur roaring in pain from the scorching sensation.

Knowing he didn't have much time left with the new status of poison on his hands, Ziri yelled "This time, let's go with a Swift!"

"Petal Dance!"

At this Ziri swore violently and changed tack- "Go around it with Quick Attack!"

Although some stars succeeded in knocking back some petal in the massive crush of them, they dispersed halfway through. However, by then, the utter speed that Cyndaquil had managed bypassed it before the growing storm of petals formed a real wall.

"Now, use Ember-!"

"Turn the Petal Dance in front of you!"

Although physically impossible, the petals that Cyndaquil had previously bypassed suddenly, as if by a psychic command, flew in front of the oncoming fireballs, both snuffing them out at minimal to no cost- And proceeded to surround the Fire Mouse.

Hearing his partner's squeals of panic, Ziri took a deep breath, and yelled "Retreat! Flame Wheel!"

There was nothing for a few seconds as the cyclone of petals tightened-

And then in a burst of fire Cyndaquil burst through, wreathed in flames. The petals scattered, some completely charred, others just blasted away via the heat- In any case, Cyndaquil had escaped.

Ziri breathed a sigh of relief as his best friend stopped a few feet in front of him, and joined him in facing their shared enemy. Well, enemies.

And then, Cyndaquil slumped forward onto the ground, and with a painful jolt he remembered the poison…

May smirked at him from across the battlefield, and he could do nothing but glare back- But he knew that it was an empty one, when he was already consumed with worry.

* * *

"There's no other verdict besides that he is epically, totally, and absolutely screwed."

Urya said so, not because he was trying to annoy everyone, which he would usually want to do under normal circumstances. This, however, was not a set of normal circumstances, with one of his new best friends on the brink.

Okay, so Hannah had been there, and had actually gone over- But he was staying away after she'd given him one of the slaps that she usually reserved for Ziri, which was designed for him and therefore instantly knocked him out cold.

Not that he deserved it, at least in his mind. But, that was the thought of everyone there, and even Hannah was forced to admit that she didn't want him to lose- If all for revenge. Which was always sweet.

* * *

Two seconds later, and Cyndaquil pushed himself back up, to respectable applause…

Which was cut short when again the Fire Mouse collapsed, revealing a rather large set of scratches all over.

That was the risk Ziri had taken with ordering a Flame Wheel- And now it was coming back to bite him.

Ziri looked as if the instinct to fight was clashing with the urge to forfeit, judging for how his right arm was twitching up and down. Slowly, and slowly…

The upward movement was winning out, and the eyes of everyone were on his right hand.

And then, something happened. As in, something loud, big, massive, and earthshaking.

Ziri had known inside that the day would be explosive. He just hadn't known _how _explosive, and now he knew.

* * *

Far to the south of Violet City, a girl was walking, absentmindedly stroking the Absol that walked besides her, both wanting to go south- But going north. Well, she wasn't good at reading directions, but she wasn't _bad _either…

Newcomers to Johto pretty much always had this problem- Unless you had a Johto native (Or two, in Gale and Ziri's case, the latter of which could be disputed) guiding you.

She wore a rather large gray hat with a stripe running around the dome's base, and a matching gray shirt that rippled to the wind, which had only recently picked up in the area.

"The wind's strange today," she said absentmindedly, as she adjusted the jacket she wore even though it was a good eighty-five degrees around. Jacket as in knee length, _thick_ jacket.

"But Johto's weird, so that's not too much of a shock."

Her Absol growled in agreement, and nuzzled her through her dark blue jeans, which were partly hidden by the high-heeled boots that she wore. Well, it didn't boost her height _that _much- Ziri, who was a good five-eleven, was still taller than her boosted five-eight.

The boots were three inch heels, but Hannah would have been touting her own natural height proudly- She wore two-and-a-half inch heels but still managed to gain a half-inch advantage.

She had no idea that in a day's time she would clash with said Johto native- And cause a massive clash to revolve around him.

It wasn't going to be _all _her fault, but still it was a pretty obvious majority. If you could see the pie chart…

Cyndaquil was the source of the explosion, and Ziri felt the thrill of recognition when he lifted the hand that had instinctively flown to his eyes.

The ten-foot column of fire. The burning-red aura. The ring of black, scorched dirt around the Fire Mouse.

_Blaze_.

And then Cyndaquil turned around to face him, and the look was clear.

_Don't you dare give up now. _

"Hell to the no I won't," he said softly, and close his eyes after a glance at the timer.

He was down in points by a _lot_, and still going down the more the poison took effect- But Cyndaquil was literally high at this point, and seemed to have shaken it off for now…

_You have a minute left._

_Stop thinking and fight._

His eyes snapped open, and May was stunned at the furious intensity in his eyes as he suddenly tensed his body along with his Pokemon.

"Ember!"

May's confident counter of a Petal Dance…

Was instantly shredded, ripped, and burned to death as the rather familiar barrage of explosive fireballs blew right through the cloud- And slammed into Venusaur, who roared in panic at the pain- And _very _thick barrage of fireballs that were just racing towards it-

"Earthquake!" May called in panic, shocked by the massive increase in power-

"Flame Wheel!"

Cyndaquil stopped to fire off a few more fireballs out of spite before he blasted forward, flames again wrapping around his body- But it was not a compact fireball backed by physical momentum that everyone saw.

It was a true juggernaut, a good five feet in diameter vertically.

The shockwaves sent along the ground didn't bother Cyndaquil and Ziri at all, since the echidna was at the very center of the charging fireball- And said echidna was two-and-a-half feet off the ground.

May was panicking at the massive reversal, and it showed when in desperation she called "Double Edge!"

With surprising speed Venusaur charged forward- And proceeded to be thrown back by the impact of the flames. Likewise, Cyndaquil was thrown backwards- But the Fire Mouse Pokemon only flew so far because of its light weight, they flew equal distances- Venusaur from the sheer impact, and Cyndaquil via gravity having taken leave when nature created Cyndaquils.

The faced each other, with Venusaur breathing rather heavily from the angry burns on her skin- Now, everyone saw a _green _aura around the Seed Pokemon.

* * *

"Oh no," Hannah whispered, remembering in a flash the duel between the Totodile thief and Ziri. "Not-"

Alex's Pokedex, unbidden, instantly chimed "**Overgrow, a grass-type ability. The user draws upon all the power within to massively enhance battle performance and boost grass-type moves.**"

Oh no indeed.

* * *

May smiled briefly but then returned to her poker face.

After all, with thirty seconds left…

Ziri made his decision.

"Try both a Swift and Ember at the same time!"

He had never tried this before, but with Blaze activated and thirty seconds he might as well try. And, to be sure…

It worked.

But it was not unopposed. "Petal Dance!"

Lucky Ziri ordered _both_, because now the petals formed a true storm, which actually caused the air to roar as the swirling front clashed with the explosive fireballs and stars- Which created a stalemate between the flames and stars versus the wrathful maw of petals, but Ziri knew that Venusaur, being bigger and stronger would sooner or later get the upper hand-

He had one option left, and it looked like endgame had begun.

"Let's finish this! Flame Wheel!"

And so the Blaze-enhanced burning charge ripped right through the petals- May, however, had a small inkling of what he would do beforehand, and called "Vine Whip! Throw it up!"

The vines came low this time, barely skimming the ground, while Ziri blinked in confusion- Then, he realized May was trying to repeat the previous "superdrop" that had gotten him so dangerously close to defeat.

His first thought was to tell Cyndaquil to swerve aside to avoid it. Yes, that would make things simple-

But then he realized that Cyndaquil was moving forward.

Any motion that sent the Fire Mouse up would bring it down…

But this time it would not bring it straight down. And if the Seed Pokemon was dead in front, then there was another, very dangerous, but highly rewarding option.

He didn't hesitate. "Keep going!" he roared

And his best friend charged forward with renewed vigor…

* * *

"Is he _insane_?" Alex gasped in horror, watching the vines and the shell of flames rush towards each other at alarming speed.

"Did you just figure _that_ out?" Synthia snapped, not wanting a second missed of the oncoming collision.

Gale couldn't help but tense himself in anticipation- After all, wasn't this the final seconds?

Hannah alternatively wanted to shut her eyes or scream that May was a pregnant female canine and should be beaten into the ground.

* * *

The vines struck.

Although it was forced to blast its way through the swirling flames that blanketed every part of Cyndaquil's body, bringing a grimace of pain from Venusaur- But it served its purpose.

Cyndaquil was thrown skywards, the fire covering his body literally being shed- May was sure that the impact had jolted the Fire Mouse's concentration.

It had- But it returned, for the moment that the apex was reached Ziri roared his final order.

"Aim!"

The fire around Cyndaquil's body suddenly thickened to its previous, pre-aerial levels- May now had a sense of foreboding and yelled "Solarbeam!"

Lucky for her, because the next order, pardon the pun, was-

"FIRE!"

And just like that the Fire Mouse became a missile heading right at its light-gathering enemy beneath it.

* * *

"He's a genius," Gale murmured, stunned as he watched Cyndaquil's burning shell accelerate through the air.

"You're saying that a lot today" was what Urya wanted to say- But that was a remote corner of his mind, since he was too busy gaping at the screen.

And Hannah now had lost all reservations about Ziri winning- Enough to whisper "Go faster" which nobody heard, thankfully enough.

Alex was less than reserved- All she did was hop up and down. "Yes yes yes!" she crowed. "Crush heeerrr-!"

And that's when the Solarbeam fired.

* * *

Ziri had, in that moment of pure adrenaline, missed the order- But it was too late to change history.

The beam blasted forth from the flower on Venusaur's back, and Ziri could do nothing but watch in horror as the yellow, concentrated beam of light flew forth dead at the oncoming sphere of flames-

Which was promptly split completely apart.

The Fire Mouse simply blasted apart the beam, flames still coating it and little to momentum that gravity had endowed it lost, and so as the beam of light was blasted apart, its remnants flying away in a sunray-like pattern- Ironic for an attack based on sunlight.

May could do nothing but watch in horror at the incredible, earthshaking, and damning impact. Utterly damning, that is- If a freakin' _meteor_ is coming at you, and you're a big target, then that's your problem.

The reason behind the analogy- The echidna had become a meteor.

The flaming impact sent an air-rippling shockwave that rattled the entire building, which sent the audience jumping from their seats in shock. Urya was stunned enough to yelp his shock and fall completely over- Alex jumped up, eyes wide, while Gale, Hannah, and Synthia violently jerked at the pure force that Ziri had manufactured, with all the odds against him.

* * *

He was fighting on unfamiliar ground- The format, even the styles of the people he battled were different.

He was going against the declared Princess of Hoenn. Even with a fire-versus-grass type advantage, he was fighting with an incredible handicap of sheer experience over a one-week career as a trainer.

His Pokemon had not yet evolved, while May had a final evolution. Everyone originally saw even with a type advantage how Fire Mouse had been violently thrashed around- A testament to just how long she had possessed the Bulbasaur all the way to a Venusaur.

Yet here he was now, having driven May this far in something that he never wanted to be in and had only gotten in by pure luck.

Luck only held out for so long- Now pure improvisation was what kept him going.

* * *

The smoke cleared, and there the panting Cyndaquil was, flames on his back slowly burning down. On the other side of the field was Venusaur, the green glow rapidly flickering.

On a side note- There was a _massive _burn on its body.

On another side note- There were two, parallel ruts in the ground, extending from where the Seed Pokemon had previously stood to where she was now.

They measured ten feet in length, after a later estimate- But as of now, nobody cared. At that exact moment, both of their separate auras completely faded before they both collapsed.

The earth rumbled at Venusaur's collapse, but Ziri didn't give a damn for the thing that had caused _his _Pokemon to fall. He sprinted over, ignoring the yells of the judges to come back, and fell to his knees besides his fallen Pokemon. The mayor of Violet City _almost _jumped out of his seat-

Almost- Until, of course, he saw that May had done the same thing, so he immediately sat down.

The buzzer rang at that instant for time.

Though the judges looked profoundly embarrassed for not ringing it earlier, the crowd, which had been silent since the explosion, burst into applause for both of them. Ziri looked up, cradling his exhausted and unconscious Cyndaquil, and was stunned to see everyone looking at _him_.

He stood up slowly, wondering what this was all about- Hadn't he lost?

* * *

His companions in the lobby knew far better, since the monitor there was equipped with a point meter for both of them which popped up from time to time.

They all stared at the screen, shocked- Which was happening a bit too much today- And proceeded to whoop violently.

No, that was Urya- Everyone else was busy sitting doing and trying to clear their heads of the numbers they had seen.

At least, the parts of most-barren circles- As in, how perfectly equal they were.

* * *

Someone was wandering the streets of Violet City at this time, oblivious to the massive publicity surrounding the city's contest (He usually would declare it frivolous, and as of now he had never broken that habit of declaring them that).

The streets were deserted- He preferred them that way, since nobody would comment on the mask that he wore, which shaded everything of his face save the eyes. Well, it didn't shade _every _part of his face, at least from his nose down. No, that part was hidden by the collar of the long red coat he wore.

His blond hair rippled in the wind as he continued to walk, and he saw the destination that he wanted from observing to movements of those within said destination.

It was the end of an alley, and so the masked man stopped in front of the mouth, looking at the innocent-looking door at the end. Ordinarily, one would declare this to be a normal door, to somewhere in the building at the end of the alley.

It led to somewhere into the building.

But it was not a normal door.

With a sigh, he backed away, and said softly "Go, Gardevior."

The Embrace Pokemon appeared, and looked expectantly at her trainer, who ordered "Rip the door off with Psychic."

Nodding, Gardevior looked at the darkness-shrouded door at the end of the alley. With glowing eyes.

The metal that constituted the door began to shriek as the Psychic force began to rip apart the hinges. Now, the man could hear some shouts from within the building, and decided to reinforce himself.

"Tyranitar, come out."

The Armor Pokemon appeared besides the currently concentrating Gardevior, growling softly- Before coming, here the man had told them all a detailed plan about what to do.

Therefore, now came Tyranitar's part- To bash, smash, rip apart, and obliterate any resistance.

Gardevior's part also entailed getting her hands dirty- From a distance. Now, the door finally ripped free, and the man saw with satisfaction that the hinges now cackled with electricity- An anti-unwanted-intruder device.

And out of the hole where the door formerly resided was three men, followed immediately by a crush of others. They all looked _highly _annoyed-

But immediately after seeing the Tyranitar, Gardevior, and the masked man most of all they immediately began backing away back into the door, from the man most of all.

The man smirked behind the top-half of his coat, relishing the fear he saw in their eyes, before he calmly ordered "Hyper Beam."

The guys never had a chance.

With a massive explosion, the walls to the sides crumbled, and a minute later when the smoke cleared, he saw that they were all unconscious- Or worse.

With a sneer from behind the mask, he took one last look at them, the red Rs on their shirts stained partially with their own blood, and ordered "Gardevior, Teleport."

They disappeared- Tyranitar, human, and Gardevior- like they were never there, and a few seconds later the sirens began to wail.

* * *

"Did… Did he just force a tie?"

That was Hannah's take on the situation, as she slowly got up and walked closer to the screen. "I- I've never heard anything like this happen-"

Neither had Synthia and Alex, judging the looks on their faces, but ironically enough this _had _happened to one of the contestants here.

One of the ones who had been fighting, that is. But never mind that.

* * *

Ziri slowly stood up, as the judges busily conversed with one another and the audience looked like they'd been smashed over the head with a Farfetch'd leek. Hard.

Slowly, they came out of their stupor. Ziri _thought _that the applause began somewhere in the right edge of the audience, but who knew- It could have been simultaneous across the entire space.

Three seconds later, and he had to wince at the thunderous applause- For both of them.

Slowly, he looked to where May was still kneeling besides her Venusaur, not caring about whether she soiled her Contest dress, and realized with shock that the angry red burns had not faded- Which meant…

He walked over, still cradling the Fire Mouse in his arms, and he said hesitantly "Uh… Did I put a burn on your Venusaur?"

She looked at him, giving him a wan smile. "Yes… But I guess that it's also my fault you're Pokemon's poisoned…"

"Eh," Ziri mumbled, "Guess I sorta paid back in full when I burned you…"

"Don't worry," she replied, standing up as she returned her Pokemon into her Pokeball. "Burns aren't too common, but it was my fault for not being on guard…"

Her counterpart raised an eyebrow. "If that had happened, I'd have been epically screwed by now."

She couldn't help but giggle at that. "You remind of someone, you know that?"

Her trip down the memory lane was cut short by the announcer suddenly walking across the stage. "Well, folks, you've just seen a battle that'll go down into the books of history for a _long _time. A newcomer-"

"Who registered by the whim of a damn overflirtatious desk attendant," Ziri mumbled sarcastically under his breath, which gave him a surprised look from May.

"-comes into the contest with _quite _the entrance-"

"I could repeat that if I was blind," Ziri snorted, earning him this time a strange look.

"-pulls through with incredible luck in the appeals-"

"At least she's said _something _right…" he grumbled, and May looked at him in exasperation.

"Will you stop being a smart-aleck-?"

"Don't wanna."

"-and has come this far into the finals-"

"Do you always have trouble with females-?" came May's next question, in remembrance of Hannah's abuse.

"Erm, duh?"

Which in itself was a self-explanatory statement. Now…

"-and, by the consent of the judges, we have decided to award _two _ribbons today!"

Everyone in the building that had not been involved in deciding and/or was announcing was instantly struck dumb.

"So, Zirienji Axlhedron and May Maple are our two co-winners of this Contest!"

Ziri didn't know what allowed him to stand up and take the four-sided ribbon with a golden crest binding it all together- Apparently neither did May, who proceeded to pretty much knock him over as she accepted the second, identical ribbon.

"Oww," he grumbled, getting up- Cyndaquil, unharmed in his arms, squealed sleepily before turning over and unintentionally weakly turning on his flames vents…

Right on the ribbon.

He howled in pain, but managed to avoid dropping the Fire Mouse while only dropping the ribbon to everyone's shock.

Mumbling a quick sorry to no one in particular, he bent down to pick up the ribbon…

And was forced immediately let it go because of the still-heated metal, violently cursing while he was at it.

The crowd only roared with laughter at both events while May, the announcer, and judges looked on helplessly at this apparently spontaneous burst of dirty humor.

* * *

"Okay," Hannah growled, "He's not even a coordinator, but he gets into it by accident, opens with an awesome human entrance, _two _perfect uses of Metronome, and he _gets this far and wins a ribbon_?"

Urya was looking like he was dying of laughter.

Gale began edging away from them all while Alex and Synthia gave dark nods of agreement.

* * *

**And that's that. This fic is going to be massive, so for all those faithful readers- Remember that this may take a year to finish, or maybe I'll go into a hiatus like I did with Grudges (It still is). But, this is perhaps the most successful story I've written, and I'm brimming with ideas day by day. **

**Four weeks into the summer- Four chapters. At this rate, I'll finish Azaela Town in December... **

**Oh well. Life's life. And how the heck did I get a hundred reviews!? Sweet!**

**Remember to review... With Farfetch'd's leek on top!!**


	18. From the dark comes the Kage

**My god, I'm not even sure how I finished this, but here it is. More of a filler chapter than anything- But I promise, next chapter is a side-by-side set of two battles- No, not like the triple-battle behemoth I wrote two weeks ago, as in two battles cutting in and out of each other.**

**And, we'll finally see a certain Pokemon game mechanic that begins with the letter E...**

**Clare- Claroosooo- Wait, did I get that right? C'mon, it's not hard to copy, paste, and hit review, right? I prefer to go through reviews, since my inbox is flooded- But there's a way to filter reviews, thankfully, so could you do it that way? I like your OC concept, anyway.**

**WarSlaynHalo- Did I get that right as well? I hate myself... Anyway, same reason as above. Sorry guys...**

**Captainof10: Why CAN'T you put Ziri in? If you want, in the chapters that include him in your fic I can read it over for you and offer suggestions...**

**And what's with the person that put this story on his/her alert list... BUT DOESN'T REVIEW??**

**Whatever- I'll let that eat his conscience. Yes, I'm evil this week, but god this week sucked. **

**Happy Reading!!**

* * *

When Ziri came out, in a nasty daze after what he'd just done, still clutching the ribbon (He'd had enough reason left in him to return Cyndaquil to his Pokeball) he faced the stares of everyone in the lobby (This was ten minutes after everyone had left, so it was just the other five).

"What?" he asked innocently.

Urya looked like he was (Still) dying of laughter, Gale just looked at him with a pitying look on his face, and Alex and Synthia looked like they wanted to murder him. Which explained the pitying expression.

Hannah, however, gave him curious expression that he couldn't place, and that was what he addressed first. "Why are you giving me that weird look?"

"Um," she quickly fibbed, "I don't know…"

"Spit it out, will you?"

With everyone looking at her, she sighed and spoke a morose "I'm dragging you down, aren't I?"

Ziri blinked. "Huh?"

It was a stupid thing to say, but then again he _was _emotionally and mentally drained from his gauntlet run- And his confusion was shared with the others, who were looking at Hannah with raised eyebrows and/or inquisitive looks.

It came out quite fast, so Ziri wasn't sure for a second if it was really comprehensible speech or not, but it was.

"All I do is take up your time, slap you around and knock you unconscious when I feel like it" Synthia looked slightly vindicated at this "take up your attention, ask you for help, and I can't even win something that I've been obsessed with since I was a kid _after _you helped me."

"Tell me- Am I useless or not?"

Her voice had taken a hard edge, and Ziri was beginning to seriously contemplate backing away. "Uh, lemme think," he stammered, trying to buy himself time.

Not a chance.

Hannah stalked forward, immediately causing Ziri to back away- Not fast enough. She grabbed his shoulders and slammed him into the wall, rattling his skull and the wall audibly- Everyone instantly jumped forward, opening their mouths to protest at the over-the-top violence- But they instantly jumped back when they saw tears in her eyes. Again.

Ziri didn't know what he was more scared of- The demonic Hannah that had been let loose a few seconds earlier or the silently-tearful Hannah in front of him.

"Tell me the truth," she whispered, and the one she was giving the death grip to felt her tremble. "Tell me, am I nothing but a burden?"

"No," Ziri immediately answered, although he actually had no clue what she was to him- And the group.

No clue, as in, he had no real definition for what she was- Nor had he ever thought about it.

Two seconds after he said his answer, she just stared at him- Before she suddenly jerked him extremely violently screamed "_Tell me the truth, goddammit_!"

He flinched at her tone more than the physical motion, partly because of that but also because of the sudden change in her expression- From mostly expressionless to something close to enragement.

No, that wasn't it.

The expression was something close to _desperate _enragement, further proven by the presence of tears…

Slowly, he lifted his arms and grabbed her shoulders, in a mirror image of what she was doing to him.

She jerked in surprise at this, but Ziri wasn't finished with that comforting gesture. "Look," he said softly, "I don't care who you are, where you're from, and what you've done. I've never had friends for most of my life, and like I think of everyone here I think of you as a friend."

"And friends are never burdens."

She just stood there, her arms dropping to her side as her face registered blank shock. Quickly taking the initiative before she decided to kill him, he endeavored "Look, if you want to leave, then I personally won't stop you- But to me you'll never be a burden."

He had meant it, but he didn't know for sure whether or not it would be taken the way he wanted. In any case, he let go of her shoulders and began walking past her, out the Contest Hall.

Everyone, after giving her a worried glance (Even Synthia, who only gave her a short one- As in, mach-speed turn of the head), followed him out the door, leaving Hannah staring at the wall.

* * *

"What is her problem?" Synthia grumbled, outside. "Always abusing you and stuff…"

"I deserve it most of the time, I guess," he said offhandedly.

"Not really," Urya said thoughtfully, "I'm going to say that you _like _the pain-"

Gale looked at both Urya and Ziri in disbelief. "You're saying that he's a masochist-?"

Ziri groaned. "_Ellos son idiotos._"

Everyone blinked and chorused a combined "What?"

Then Alex remembered the last part. "Hey! Are you saying that we're-?"

"Idiots? Yes."

They all looked at him with murder in their hearts, but he did not seem to notice. "I take the pain because it's training."

Everyone blinked. "How is that _training_?" Gale said in disbelief. "Just taking pain-"

Then he understood. "You're trying to teach yourself to _endure _it?"

"Yep."

Everyone hurried to match his rapid steps. "Why?" Urya asked, bewildered. "I thought you could dodge everything that came at you-"

Ziri gave him a look. "Are you patronizing me?"

"It's the truth!" Alex said indignantly. "I always try to hit you, but you always either dodge it or hit me before I come close-!"

"Was behind my back and I was occupied anyway, blah, blah, blah."

"-and," she went on, totally ignoring everything he said, "the only things you don't dodge are every kind of violent movement she makes towards you-"

"She hasn't hit me every time she wants to give me a concussion-"

Again ignoring him she continued with this time something of an evil tone: "Which must mean you like her!"

Ziri did not jerk in surprise, much to the others' own surprise. "You're drawing this conclusion because…?" he asked calmly as he kept walking.

"Because… Because… She's hot!" she snapped, nettled by his apparent obliviousness. "You've seen how normal guys look at her, some of them even get _nosebleeds_ just by looking at her-"

"Good for them."

"Are you _stupid_?" Alex practically snarled. "You seriously can't be that dense-"

"I never cared about looks. I'll say just to shut you up that she's got awesome looks, but I've learned to look at humans beyond just that."

He clammed up immediately after this, leaving everyone else confused about the last few words that he had spoken.

* * *

The man had already planned everything- So now, he appeared in a flash of light, with his Gardevior and Tyranitar in a clearing somewhere south of Violet City.

It had been the result of much stakeout for the past three days, in his drive to destroy Team Rocket's hideout- He had arranged everything, even this clearing and the exact nature of the destruction he had planned.

Now, knowing that today had been a success, he allowed himself a brief moment of rest- By, of all things, removing the mask.

This simple action revealed a pale face and blue eyes to the world- Had anyone been looking at him in that instant. He then took off the long red coat that had become his preferred style of dress and stowed it away; he had no need of it for travelling.

After all, if one wanted to see him at the scene of the crime, he'd be wearing both coat and mask- Now, miles away he had and needed neither.

With a quick, but honest "Good job" to both his Pokemon, who immediately perked up at his words, he returned them and placed them on his belt.

He looked around at the sunlight softly filtering through the trees, and let a smile through, before it naturally disappeared.

Azalea Town was next. And by the looks of things, Team Rocket seemed to be more than active in this region now…

* * *

The group would not be leaving Violet City in the morning unscathed from all the events that had transpired there. No, the massive knockout of the entire Team Rocket operation in the city did not have anything to do with it. That was the masked man's fault, and it did not occur to the police that eventually it would have something to do with the gang of six kids who walked back into the Pokemon Center in the extreme future.

The moment that they walked in, Francesco looked up from where he busy reading a lab report, and opened his mouth to say hello- And that's when he caught sight of Alex.

And vice versa. They both rushed forward and grabbed each other in a messy hug, while Ziri quickly scooted away, Synthia tutted at the way-too obvious show of affection, Gale only shook his head, and Urya fall over in choked laughter- Until Alex, although younger than him, whirled around and stalked over, kicking him in the gut. When he was wheezing for breath, she walked back over and innocently asked "How's it been since I left?"

Although Ziri had violently winced and Gale had shuddered at Urya's misfortune, Francesco gave no sign of discomfort and easily responded "Everything's been fine back in Pallet Town… I just transferred here since Professor Oak decided that he had too many aides in his own lab, but I should get experience anyway working in a professional setting with a professional."

Ziri coughed violently at the last part.

Noticing that, Francesco looked over and said icily "You're not very respectful to your elders, are you-?"

"Oh no, it's just that you won't be declaring him a 'professional' once you really get to know him- And he doesn't care about my attitude since I'm something borderlining overefficient," Ziri said dismissively.

"What do you mean by the first part?" Alex cut in. "Why would we _not _declare the professor a-?"

"You have to see it to believe it, _children_," Ziri said while smiling craftily, deliberately putting his age in front of them.

Alex instantly stalked forward- Again- But this time Ziri was not a sucker for laughing to the point of collapse and easily sidestepped the wild punch that she threw. "Don't mess with seniors, _kiddo_," he couldn't help but chuckle, directly invoking their lines a few seconds ago- This only caused Alex to try and kill him harder.

As Ziri ran around, looking and sounding like he was dying of laughter, Gale asked in a low voice (Being slightly embarrassed to be there), "Just why did you come all the way from Kanto, anyway?"

In a corner of Gale's mind, he wanted to point out to Alex that she was proving a point that she had made earlier- She couldn't hit him when he was actually paying attention.

In an equally, though slightly steamed voice: "I delivered the egg to Ziri-" Gale's eyebrows raised at this "-and also wanted to give Alessandra a message…"

"Which is?" Gale inquired as the girl in question dived at Ziri, only to have the previously fleeing boy to suddenly reverse direction and jump _over_ her. Alex, further enraged by the scraped carpet burn she had received (Of her own accord) turned around again-

Only to be suddenly wrapped in a laughing Ziri's bear hug- Well, not _really _a bear hug, since it still left comfortable breathing room. The rage still festering, she writhed in his grip, and tried biting him-

Uselessly.

Five minutes of this amusing spectacle, which only made Ziri laugh harder, left Alex hanging there, red-faced and panting wearily in defeat.

"Am… Am I _ever _going to win against you?" she gasped.

"Not really," he choked out, through the mirth that he still had, and set her down in a chair before he finally succumbed and fell over in laughter, slapping the ground as tears rolled down his face.

Alex _would _have kicked him there- But Ziri had had the foreseen that, so that _would_ was just a big if, since she was too exhausted to care.

Gale sighed (Silently) in relief that not another male had fallen victim Alex's vicious swing of the leg.

Turning back to Francesco, in an effort to continue their… Interesting conversation…

He discovered that the young lab aide was gone, currently applying a cold pack to her forehead that he had brandished out of nowhere,

"Figures," he sighed.

At that moment, Hannah walked in, saw Ziri, who was still on the ground (Only chuckling heartily by now), and walked over.

He immediately stood up, along with everyone else.

"What?" he quickly asked, wondering if she was going to break down again.

She only looked at him before she said, in a far quieter voice than what they expected: "We need to talk."

Ziri blinked. "Uh, okay… Where-?"

"Just you and me, somewhere private."

The look on her face said it all- And it was not one of those expressions demanding you do it or die.

It was a pleading one, and he had never been able to reject those, and besides he never wanted to in this case. He nodded, and as they both walked up to the room that they were staying in he cast a glance backwards to the others.

_Don't follow us._

"What're they going to talk about?" Urya asked worriedly.

Gale only shook his head.

* * *

"Okay," Ziri said conversationally, "What's up?"

She looked at him from the other side of the room, knowing that he had no clue what she wanted to say, and sighed. "How innocent are you?"

"Very," he shrugged, "If I had my way we would have never met."

Hannah looked up. "What do you mean?"

"My mom made become a trainer- That's why I'm five years older than the normal trainer. And, I guess so are you, but you're the one asking questions. So…"

He let his voice trail off meaningfully, bringing back the conversation to the beginning- It made her cringe, and he noticed. "Is it something you think I'm not going to like that you're going to tell me?"

Hannah managed a shaky "Yes," before Ziri sighed.

"Just let it out, will you?"

Silence.

Hannah had literally iced over inside, even though she wanted to scream out the reason she wanted to talk to him in private in the first place. She could still feel her heart beat and her jaw twitching-

So why was she unable to bring out the words?

Ziri sensed this and so walked over to her side of the room, plopping down besides her with a sigh. "Are you angry at me and so want to declare that?"

She shook her head mutely.

Ziri tried again. "Are you wanting to… Uh, quit being a coordinator?"

She glared at him this time. Immediately he scooted away, and meekly he said "Are you angry at me _now_?"

"Yes," she snapped, and slapped him- Or would have, if she hadn't had her arm suddenly caught by his own.

"Will you _please _break the façade and just tell me?" he grumbled tiredly. "I mean, it can't be _that _bad."

At the very least she was beginning to talk again- That was good. "Yes it is," she snapped, and as if to prove the point, she took her left hand and slapped him with that one.

"Oww!!" he whined. "What was that for?"

"For being an absolute idiot."

"Stop trying to change who I am!"

"Oh, so now you _admit _to being an idiot-?"

"Wha-?! Hey, that was on instinct!"

Then, he broke the pouting face and said quietly "Are you scared that what you're about to say will make me hate you?"

It hit the nail so hard on the head that she actually jerked in surprise.

_Bingo_.

He pressed forward. "Seriously, do you think it will?"

She brought her suddenly vulnerable eyes to his newly softened steel gray ones, and nodded.

"Look at me," he said, "and tell me if I'm the kind to hit, betray, or try to humiliate, or do something involving insulting words to a friend."

She looked, and in that instant, she wanted to literally melt into said sensory organs.

Gray eyes were not the usual kind of color she preferred- Yet these were solid steel ones, and somehow she found comfort in those. With a deep breath, she whispered it.

* * *

The man, walking south minus mask and long red coat, did not mind the heat. No, he'd fared worse before- Much worse.

His Luxray was walking besides him, and the man knew that sooner or later he'd have to do _it_. As in, something so vital to his Luxray's life force that he would die if it was not performed- But it appeared that as of now the Gleam Eyes Pokemon was taking it quite well.

He could Teleport to Azalea Town, but where would the fun be in that? Besides, exercising one's Pokemon was incredibly important.

If an underexercised Pokemon went into battle, then the owner of said Pokemon could be declared screwed instantly. How many rich people, boasting of their strength, had indeed sent out strong Pokemon- That stumbled on the first order?

In addition to embarrassing said rich person, the nonplussed opponent would then order the coup de grace, furthering the embarrassment. Domino effect, anyone?

So, this time it was Luxray's turn- Well, technically in open areas it was always Luxray's turn to be walked. If it was in an urban area, Luxray's… _condition_ would make it highly dangerous to all bystanders. Lethality to all, not just one's self- Nice summary.

They passed by a grove of woods that jutted out into the main road, and with a loud squeal a Skiploom jumped out.

Luxray immediately dived forward with a roar and a flash of gold light before impact; said impact sent the unfortunate Skiploom through what _sounded _like two trees…

But by then it was out of sight, so the man wasn't sure.

His Luxray came back, with a slight bruise on his shoulder- A testament to the recklessness of the Double Edge attack he'd just performed.

The man looked at his Pokemon with a sigh, before scratching it behind the ears- Where it immediately perked up at, before both trainer and Pokemon resumed their walk.

* * *

The girl's uninterrupted walk was interrupted. As in, disrupted, two hours later from where the poor Skiploom had been thrashed and the man and his Luxray had moved on.

It all had something to do with his Luxray's… _Condition_, as it could be called. A minute before she and her Absol came to the clearing where the man had stopped. In that instant, the Gleam Eyes Pokemon began to rapidly jerk violently- His owner, instantly recognizing the symptoms, quickly sent out his Gardevior. "Luxray," he said, and the head of the lion looked at him, face constricted by pain, "It's time to do it."

"Gardevior, Light Screen!"

The golden shield went up in front of both the man and the Embrace Pokemon, and at that moment Zailia entered the clearing they were in; the man, not noticing, now called…

"Discharge!"

With a roar, the air was suddenly rent apart with an all-directional blast of blue electricity that splintered into individual bolts. Half the trees in the clearing immediately split apart from the pure power of the attack; however, not a single tree fell close to the man and Gardevior, given that they were in dead center. To be sure, five bolts struck dead on the Light Screen- But it easily held.

The same, however, could not be said for the Absol. One stray bolt struck it and actually lifted it off its feet as it howled in pain- But that howl was cut short when ten feet away it crashed into a tree and fell down, twitching.

The man instantly snapped his neck towards the source of the howl, and discovered the interestingly dressed girl with shock on her face and, looking further, an Absol twitching on the ground, electricity cackling over it.

Luxray, newly-freed from the twitching fit, turned and snarled at the girl, who instantly looked furious. "What the _hell _were you doing!" she yelled. "What did you attack me for-?"

Instantly she rushed over to where her Absol was, while the man only walked over with both Gardevior and Luxray. "I honestly had no clue that you were there," he said calmly, as she glared at him, crouched next to her Absol's fallen form. "That attack was a Discharge- I had no way of aiming it."

Ignoring him, she quickly brought out a potion and began spraying it over the burn marks over the pure white fur, which caused it to flinch, but then relax as they instantly healed.

However, it was still wincing in pain, and the girl turned to him, eyes blazing. "What was that for-!?"

"I've already explained, if you haven't noticed," he retorted, slightly irked at her. "Now, if you excuse me-"

He made to move past her, but suddenly she jumped into his would-be path. "Never. You're going to pay-"

"Pay what?" the man snapped, now seriously annoyed. "Are you going to extort me? Is this highway robbery-?"

"I will crush your Luxray, and _then _let you pass."

Silence. Then, the man sneered. "Really."

Instead of answering, she called "Shadow, use Night Slash!"

The blade protruding from the Absol's head glowed a sinister purple light as it started forward; the man only raised an eyebrow before he calmly ordered "Thunder Fang."

Luxray, looking extremely happy to be ordered such, darted forward and clamped down his jaws on the Absol's leg. Shadow immediately jerked in pain, thrashing to let go of the tenacious Gleam Eyes Pokemon that was also sending electricity through his jaws as a side effect-

Slightly shocked by this counter, she nonetheless called "This time use Psycho Cut!"

Shadow swung his now-pink blade downwards, catching Luxray on the back- With growl of pain, he let go, and the Absol scooted back, limping somewhat…

Deciding to play it safe and stay away, she called "Razor Wind!"

As the blade began glowing yet again, this time with a white light, the man only chuckled before he called smugly "Discharge!"

With another roar, Luxray blasted out another all-directional burst of blue electricity, which his owner dodged with a well placed duck; Shadow the Absol, however, fell victim to one of the stray blasts and was lifted off his feet yet again. The girl could only watch with horror as the Disaster Pokemon was thrown off his feet again- Now came the coup de grace.

"Luxray, finish it with Superpower!"

The girl's eyes widened in horror. "Shadow, get away, quick-!"

That worked.

Almost.

The Absol, woozy from being hit twice into a tree, managed to raise its head and stare uncomprehendingly at the charging Luxray, before it registered its owner's command.

But it came too late, for by then the Gleam Eyes Pokemon had gathered far too much momentum to be stopped. With an explosive crash, this time the Disaster Pokemon blasted through the tree, and came to a rest, miraculously having missed colliding into others.

It made no difference- The super-effective attack had knocked it unconscious on impact.

* * *

Ziri came down from the stairs looking as calm as always- Which scared them.

"Well?" Urya immediately asked. "What did she do to you?"

Ziri shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing."

They obviously didn't believe it, mainly the bruises that formed after she slapped him easily and quickly faded, so they had no way to tell. Which was partly the fact so much of Ziri's body mass was muscle…

"Seriously," Alex grumbled, "What _did _she do or tell you?"

"That she's not going on with us to Azalea Town."

Five sets of jaws immediately dropped, while Francesco only blinked bemusedly.

"_What_?"

"Okay," Gale said, first to regain his voice, "tell us exactly how hard she hit you."

"She didn't," Ziri said, slightly annoyed- Just like the man that had only just moved on calmly from where he had crushed his rather hasty opponent- Who was now half-broken down in tears.

"No, seriously, tell us."

"I didn't."

That was Hannah's voice, and everyone _almost _snapped their necks to look at her.

"Seriously," Alex said shakily, "Did you threaten him into silence or something-?"

Ziri glowered at her. "Do I have to hit _you _to shut you up? As in, same way as yesterday?"

Alex instantly turned pale and snapped her jaw shut.

Francesco instantly rounded on him. "Did you lay a hand on her?"

Ziri couldn't resist rolling his eyes. "What're you, her knight in shining armor?"

The younger, shorter, and significantly less cut boy immediately blushed, but in a voice that somehow hid the obviously visual embarrassment he snapped "Answer the question!"

"Then fine, I did."

"Wh-what!?"

Looking like a volcano had blown inside of him, he immediately puffed out his chest.

"I challenge you to a Pokemon battle, and I'll crush you as punishment for-"

"My Pokemon ain't healed yet, mister gallant," Ziri said pointedly.

He blinked twice before he visibly deflated. "Oh," he mumbled, but then immediately the volcano became active again: "I'll just wait-"

"Francesco, let it go!"

Everyone- Even Ziri- Choked violently upon realizing that Alex had said it.

Francesco looked like he was going to faint- Which he did.

Alex sighed. "He's always been a bit over-the-top…"

"Being an overzealous bastard, you mean," Ziri corrected, and immediately cowered upon seeing the venomous glare that she sent his way. "Hey, it's the true!"

She cooled down- But slowly, evidenced by the dirty looks she kept giving Ziri. "Now," she said with the air of one daring someone to tick her off, "What were you saying again?"

This time, Hannah took over the talking. "I'm going to stay in Violet City for a while."

Gale's brow furrowed. "Wait, so that means you're-?"

"I'll be leaving the group for a bit, I guess…"

At this point everyone was looking at her in shock- Save Ziri.

"Um, did _he _hit you over the head?" Urya asked weakly. "I mean, he's got no restraints at all when it comes to hitting girls-"

Hannah and Ziri simultaneously glared at him whereas he immediately wilted beneath their combined stares.

"Now," she resumed, "I want to stay here… For training, I guess. Even though I'm never, _ever _going to be a Trainer, I still want to brush up on my battling-"

"Then why not keep going with us?" Gale asked. "That way, you'll learn as well-"

"It would be better if I learned at some kind of school," she cut in, "and this place has one."

Ziri nodded. "If you guys haven't noticed, there's a bunch of flyers over there" he indicated a corner of the Pokemon Center, where the bulletin board occupied all the space of that part of the wall "and the biggest one happens to be for one Pokemon Academy. So, I guess where is settled."

"But," he continued, looking at Hannah this time, "How long are going to stay here?"

The one thing that she had declined to tell him- Now she was forced to avert his eyes. "I-I don't know," she mumbled. "I still haven't gotten word for when and where the next Contest is-"

At that moment, the Nurse Joy of Violet City, back from judging, walked in, and proceeded to pin a large, light green piece of paper to the bulletin board, before she caught sight of Ziri and instantly blushed.

Ziri, remembering the nasty incident with Togepi accidentally using Discharge, decided not to raise the point as she scooted back behind the counter- Before he checked what she had just pinned up.

"Azalea Town Contest," he read aloud, "Happening a week and two days from today…"

He checked his Pokegear.

"What the heck," he mused, "Today's Friday, so that'll be on Sunday."

He sighed. "Oh well." Turning to Hannah, he said "Make sure you catch up with us back then, will you?"

Synthia, who had been silent absorbing information this entire time, quickly pointed out "I'm going there as well, you know-"

Ziri groaned and went up to the wall, intending to slam his head against it- Only to be stopped squarely by Alex.

"Oh, and I need to stay here as well."

Ziri blinked twice, before the enormity of the entire situation crashed onto him.

That's when he vaulted over her- As in, grabbed her shoulder, shoved himself over the surprised girl, and _then _slammed his head against the wall.

Unconsciousness was immediate while the Nurse Joy became hysterical over him (Two fits of unconsciousness in the same day because of him?), and everyone else only shook their heads- Save Synthia, who looked like she was torn between laughing crazily and freaking out in panic.

That choice, however, was not to be hers- Five seconds after he decided to take the semi-dirt nap he jumped up, saying brightly "What did I miss?"

Hannah stalked over- Well, would have had the leg of a chair not snagged her leg.

Ziri sighed, caught her and propped her up, and walked away before she even registered the fact that she'd been saved by him _again_.

Two seconds, before Gale shook his head. "That's a new speed record…"

Obviously, since he'd been five feet away when she had her aborted fall.

"What're you staying here for, anyway?" Varacei (Urya's real name) asked curiously.

Alex sighed. "Well, the thing is I've got to handle some things coming in from Pallet Town for the Pokemon Transporter" she indicated a rather old machine in the far corner of the building "And Professor Oak wants someone on site to help construct it. Like me and Francesco-"

Gale raised an eyebrow. "You can handle machinery?"

"Sort of…"

"Then what does he want you here for?"

"Because I've helped him around the lab already-"

"As long as I have?" Ziri cut in.

Everyone looked at him. "Well, how long have you done it?" Urya said excitedly. "Did you get crushed or something-?"

"Unlucky for you," he mused loudly, and the younger boy scowled darkly. "I've been doing work around the lab in New Bark Town" (Which he was never going to back to, he mentally noted to himself) "for about five years now, when I _should _have been a trainer, but then I was just too scared."

"So anyway, why the hell is he asking children like you two to do it?"

Alex looked furious, but barely managed to control herself. "There… Is also something _else_… Coming with the shipment. Something special."

Ziri raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

She shook her head, and he knew better than to argue. "Then we'll just kill time until tomorrow, I guess."

* * *

Obviously, that was what happened- However, Ziri did not truly slack off for the rest of the day. He was forced to spend all his money on food- And that made him slightly ticked off, since the money that he had won off that stupid bug catcher only four days ago _barely_ succeeded in buying another four days' worth of consumables. So technically, that was only his gained money that he spent, but still.

He did not believe in energy drinks- In his opinion sugar rushes did not exist anyway.

Ziri was walking out when he suddenly realized that there was a multitude of cars coming slowly from his right going along the street to his left- But the flashers were off, so it must mean…

Ziri didn't hesitate and ran towards his right.

It didn't take long before he found his way to a wreck of a building- Well, two. The thing was, there was an alley- And something of a bomb had went off between them. And then there was a third building, technically farther from where both was- But the thing was that the "bomb" had gone off dead center of the alley.

So the third building was intact, but there were still some people milling around the police line- Ziri joined the throng.

For some reason, there was no acrid smell that was signature to gunpowder explosions, and no telltale residue from a plastic explosive that somehow had been detonated.

Ziri shuddered at the last possible thought- That it had been sparked by a Pokemon.

What kind of person would order a Pokemon to do such a thing?

Funny thing was, if Ziri had come three minutes earlier he would have seen a multitude of ambulances.

And the bodies that they were loading into them.

* * *

Three hours into next morning, Ziri was officially tired of being stuck with the three that he was.

Synthia was trying to find every possible opportunity to snuggle with him (She insisted sweetly that they call her Syn), Gale had lapsed into his semi-mute state, and Urya was trying to make his life as hair-raising as possible.

Every ten minutes, he and Ragnarok would come up with some way to shock him to hell and back- But then Ziri would (1) catch what they were throwing at him, which included but did not include silly-putty balls, smoke and/or stink bombs, and a few odd other instruments of hilarity that Ziri had no idea where they had come from. Or, (2) he'd shove away either of them, when they tried to tackle him in the back.

And he was not used to pranks anyway. Where he lived, and had now left, it was either the attempted knockout blow from behind, or dumping of water from a bucket the moment the door he wanted to open triggered the fall of the bucket.

This had taught him to hear, see, and sense everything- Though it didn't give him a 100 percent success rate, it was pretty close. For example, with the fists coming from behind- All he had to do was hear the rapid steps of someone who was out of sync with the crowd, and accelerate his own step. Or, when he wanted to avoid traps like the bucket of water that fell the moment the door opened he just kicked the suspiciously closed door and jumped back.

So for the hundredth time, he turned to Urya and snapped "Will you stop attempting to send me screaming in surprise and then unnerve me with your laughter and then turn red with embarrassment from when I realize it was just a blob of silly putty?"

Obviously, this time, he had caught one of the impossibly many blobs of putty that Urya somehow had…

"But it's awesome how you can dodge everything!" he whined. "C'mon, we need a bit of fun-"

"Go do it to them," Ziri grumbled irritably. "You think that I _like _this?"

"Yes!"

He had not expected _that _direct of an answer, but he instantly came up with an answer to counter that. "Let's see you try it on them!"

"But Gale looks like he'll kill me if I try-"

"WHAT?" Ziri practically screamed in fury, and everyone stopped walking. "HE- HE LOOKS LIKE HE'LL _KILL_ YOU? DON'T YOU THINK I LOOK LIKE I'LL _ANNIHILATE _YOU?"

"Not really," Urya said in a low voice, trying to keep himself from exploding with laughter.

Instead of replying, he left them- As in, disappearing from sight and leaving a massive burst of wind in his wake, the signature of blur-running.

"Crap!" Urya howled, running after him.

Syn and Gale else sighed and followed them reluctantly.

Ziri didn't stop running for a minute, before he skidded to a halt and looked behind him, making sure that he was not followed.

Then he groaned and punched himself. Who could follow him at that kind of speed?

It was at that moment that the girl with the Absol (Which was now stored safely in his Pokeball) stepped into view- The same moment she caught sight of Ziri.

They stared at each other, blinking, before Ziri managed a quick "Hi."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "You are…?" she asked in a rather confrontational and suspicious way.

Ziri was liking this day less and less.

* * *

Hannah was listlessly wandering around the outskirts of Violet City- Her sit-in inside the Pokemon Academy hadn't exactly _gone _well…

It had all began with entering- And tripping.

No, not over her own feet, but rather over someone's schoolbag left in the aisle. The Academy was pretty much a free learning environment- You either did stuff inside, helping yourself memorize type matchups and such, or you did stuff like train with rental Pokemon.

On this particular day the bag sent her to her knees- While everyone was still inside. They all looked at her in a moment of silence before they exploded with laughter.

That most certainly sucked, but was even worse was the studies that they were going through. Incredibly enough, she had absolutely no idea what would happen if a fire-type decided to smack around a steel-type- But she most certainly remembered that fire-types (Yes, they were covering fire-types) were weak to water types (The Totodile thief had given more than enough of a lesson for that), and obviously strong against ice and grass types (She had obviously seen Ziri's Cyndaquil give Synthia's Smoochum a good thrashing). She wasn't keen about trying to test out the grass-versus-fire kind of thing…

Everyone else?

She _knew _she failed miserably compared to them, who snapped up all the answers asked by the rather solidly-built teacher.

And then came battling, outside.

Her rental Pokemon that she chose was a Skitty, mainly because it reminded her of her mother's Delcatty. Oh, and also for the fact that she was reminded of May's own Skitty. But…

If there was one thing that she should have known, Skittys are mostly useless in battle- And this was not a Contest Battle. Her opponent, a nine-year old, barely won using a preppy little Hoothoot, that simply bounced around avoiding the stream of Doubleslaps she ordered- And smashing back with Pecks.

Thankfully, the Skitty knew Assist, so it somehow whipped out Razor Leaf from the glowing paw- Courtesy of Flora.

But to be sure, if Hoothoots were flying types…

At the very least there was always Comet Punches to look forward to, but otherwise there was absolutely nothing to look forward to while she spammed Assists.

At that point, she had quietly snuck out…

The one thought running through her head:

_I am useless_.

Alex was busy at the Pokemon Center, still awaiting the shipment supposed to arrive today- But how would she know?

Anyway, she was seriously thinking of just sitting down somewhere and breaking down, when she noticed a rather large tower somewhere to the north- Even farther than the training fields where Ziri had led them to.

At that point, she didn't give a damn about where she wanted to go- So she simple walked towards it, intending to see if there was private space to mope around.

* * *

Ziri stayed silent, praying that this… Weird person wasn't in a bad mood.

She was- Unbeknownst to Ziri, she had spent all of last night and part of this morning nursing the Absol who still limped beside her into acceptable health. And, she was now enraged at the general male population.

Which even an idiot could see that the term included Ziri.

"Um, why do you look like you want to murder me?" he asked meekly.

"Because I do, punk," she said curtly.

Not good.

And it simply wasn't her nature to admit the reason being a crushing defeat…

Ziri, obviously having no knowledge of this, continued his attempts to stem the flow of aggression. "Uh, could you let me pass?"

She looked at him, before she said loudly, "No."

"Not until I crush you."

Now Ziri was beginning to get scared. "Look, I don't know who you are or what anyone did to you, but-"

"Do you _think _that I'm in the mood for this?" she literally snarled at him.

"No, but-"

"Then hurry up and fight me!"

"Why should I!?" Ziri now snapped back, heavily annoyed. "You don't just-"

"Yes we do, the moment someone wants a battle you accept it. Now hurry up!"

Ziri groaned at himself, for forgetting such important league rules, and got out Cyndaquil's Pokeball- He was taking no chances in what she had up her sleeve.

"Cyndaquil, flame on!"

The Fire Mouse Pokemon appeared, back blazing in a show of force- Which the girl took one look at and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Ziri demanded, and his Pokemon squealed in affirmation.

"Nothing, nothing," she replied, much changed in demeanor for a few seconds ago, "It's just that you haven't even asked for my name to know who you'll get beaten into a pulp by…"

"Well, than what _is _the name, you overly pompous-?" he snapped, but before he could get out the touch of profanity…

"The name," she said, unperturbed, "is Zailia, as in Zailia Kage."

The words left Ziri's mouth before he even knew that they did.

"Can't I just call you Zail?"

* * *

When Hannah got inside the tower, which was made of brown stone and formed of several layers of pagoda-roof overhangs, she was greeted by the sight of a solid column of…

Wait, it wasn't solid.

It was swaying, and Hannah instinctively backed away.

A monk kneeling besides it, however, whose eyes had been closed when she came in, immediately said in quiet voice, "This is the Bellsprout Tower."

"This tower has not fallen for a hundred years, thanks to this flexible column that was once a giant Bellsprout's trunk."

Hannah blinked, partly in shock that he knew why she was so shocked, how she had been backing away- And besides, _was _this thing a real Bellsprout's trunk?

She decided not to ask that question, but instead: "What do… Uh, people like you do here-?"

"We train with our Pokemon."

Hannah blinked, the second time today.

"Oh."

Just what she needed.

* * *

**And that's that, folks. Any requests? Comments? New OCs (If you already submitted one, then maybe not)? Then hit the veview button and type a few sentences, people!**

**Please review! Like, please! Pretty please!! With a Gliscor's tail on top!!**


	19. Bounceback

**Well, if a few words can summarize this week it would be- FREAKISHLY AWESOME!**

**No, seriously. Flooding in the Atlanta area, coupled with some jittery administrators, gave me two free no-school days. So, I get to update two days sooner, but why not earlier? I had to study those two days anyway... **

**Next week, however, even though I've got a head start on the next chapter (All 127 words of it) I have a weekend-long project. So, it means stress will conquer all these two days... but my commitment to you guys will only be strengthened through time! (Wait, wasn't that _really _cheesy?) **

**So, happy reading to everyone!**

* * *

If there was one thing Zailia Kage could not stand, it was being called "Zail."

Ziri was not to know this until now- Judging from the suddenly enraged expression on her face.

And the words, which were, exactly: "What. The damn hell. Did you just say."

Of course, the hapless boy knew nothing about this pet peeve of hers, and only meekly said "Uh, Zail? Oh," he quickly added, "Can we make this one on one-?"

Unbeknownst to him, he just signed his death warrant.

"Shadow, crush him!" she raged, hurling the Pokeball in the air; with a flash, her Absol appeared, baring his fangs, and Ziri couldn't help but wonder why he was being confronted with so many damn intimidating Pokemon these days…

But what exactly _was _this thing, with the blade jutting out of its forehead-?

With a smooth click, he opened the cover to his Pokedex, and instantly it chimed "**Absol, the Disaster Pokemon. This Pokemon is able to sense oncoming disasters, and appears to warn people- However, many misinterpret this Pokemon's appearance as actually causing the disaster.**"

Ziri couldn't help but wince at the last part.

But before he could offer words of consolation, which would have fallen on deaf ears anyway, he heard the girl call out "Razor Wind!"

He didn't like the look of the glowing blade that was attached to the Disaster Pokemon's forehead- Therefore, he called "Swift!"

The stars flew forth, but not before Shadow swung his head in an obvious chopping motion that sent a shockwave through the air- And, like its name suggested, ripped through the barrage and crashed into the Fire Mouse.

Ziri was stunned at the force behind the attack, but Cyndaquil immediately stood up, flames flaring with a renewed vigor. Knowing more than likely that power was not the way through, she decided anyway to get the inside scoop.

"**Razor Wind, a normal-type move.**" his Pokedex mechanically said, "**The user gathers a high-speed wind and then launches it at the foe, whether it is from an appendage or not.**"

Obviously, if Absols have blades jutting out from their heads, you'd expect something sharp to come from there.

"Let's go with Quick Attack!"

Cyndaquil became a rapid blur that charged the Absol- Before Zailia could order a counter, the impact sent Shadow skidding backwards as he yowled in fury. Deciding the make this short, she shouted "Use Night Slash!"

A sinister dark purple light covered the blade- Ziri now had the one important lesson in mind when dealing with Absols.

If the blade is glowing, get the hell away.

"Quick Attack away, but use Ember as well!"

His best friend complied, and as Shadow attempted to pursue the rapidly retreating echidna the bolts of flames launched by said foe crashed into his face, causing him to growl in pain at the heat and stop; Zailia, thoroughly steamed at the point, opened her mouth to yell the order that she usually reserved for extremely nasty situations-

Ziri cut her off far too fast for her to have actually done it- Totally unaware what move she had in mind, he nonetheless shouted "That was awesome! Now use Swift in its face!"

This time the Swift, at full power actually forced Shadow to rear upwards from the force of impact. Zailia blinked at the power of the attack, before she called confidently "That's pathetic! Shadow, Razor Wind-"

Again, the lightning fast counter.

"Let's finish this! Flame Wheel!"

Before the white shockwave could properly be launched, the burning juggernaut Cyndaquil had become smashed into the would-be user, this time sending Shadow off his feet. Unable to believe her eyes, Zailia could only watch in shock as Shadow landed hard on the ground- And immediately smiled, to Ziri's annoyance and slight desperation, at the fact that this thing would not stay down.

Obviously, from the last line that meant that the Absol had gotten up.

"I would have expected a _much _larger amount of damage if you managed to throw my Absol into the air," she sing-songed. "But I guess that I _did _underestimate you…"

"So," she said, now business-like, "No more playtime."

Ziri couldn't help but try to break the nasty change in the mood by a snide "Can't you make me a bit more scared, Zail-?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Now she was livid once more- Immediately, Ziri shouted "Now's our chance! Flame Wheel-"

"Shadow, Sucker Punch!"

Suddenly, in a speed that made Ziri suddenly think of his own blur-running, Shadow smashed into Cyndaquil as the Fire Mouse was still drawing back in preparation for the burning charge. He shouted out his name in panic as he watched him bounce across the ground- When, the echidna slowly got up he was horrified to see a large bruise in his chest…

* * *

Hannah walked upstairs, wondering what she would find as she delved into the tower-

Her question was instantly answered when she saw two monks sitting there besides the center column that seemed to extend all the way through; immediately they jumped up.

"You are here to train, no?"

She quickly nodded, and took Flora's Pokeball- Her opponent, the one that had spoken, made an identical move.

Then:

"Flora, get out there!"

"Bellsprout, come out!"

The Leaf Pokemon versus the Flower Pokemon- Both plants, except for the fact that Bellsprout also had the poison type classification. Hannah looked at Flora's foe, and couldn't resist a shudder at observing it…

But there was beating-down to be done, and she wasted no time in calling "Razor Leaf!"

Sure enough, the leaves flew, crashing into the Bellsprout- And did pretty much nothing at all, besides appearing to have gotten it interested with the now-repulsed Chikorita.

The monk only laughed. "A grass and poison-type like Bellsprout feels no pain at all when enduring a grass-type move."

And with that, he called smugly "Acid!"

The Bellsprout took a second to inhale, before it spat out a thick glob of yellow goo that seemed rather familiar and similar to the Toxic that May's Munchlax had whipped out via Metronome. "Quick, jump back!" she cried, and the Chikorita _barely _managed to, leaving the goo on the floor.

Now she was internally cursing- Why didn't she have a fire-type, like Ziri?

But, if grass-type moves wouldn't work…

"Flora, Poisonpowder!"

Although Bellsprout was a poison-type, it made no difference- The poison instantly seeped in and the roots which the Flower Pokemon was upright upon began to wobble. The monk's expression changed from smug to shock- Hannah took a chance and shouted "Tackle!"

Chikoritas were not the heaviest of Pokemon, obviously, but they most certainly packed a punch relative to a Bellsprout's size, as evidenced in how the Bellsprout crashed into a wall and slumped downwards from impact.

She breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing that she had beaten it, but then she realized the _second _monk was coming up to replace his defeated comrade.

"You have talent, I give you that," he said in an appreciatory nod, "But can you use it?"

With that, he sent out another Bellsprout, and Hannah couldn't resist a snort.

"Is this a joke? I already beat one, why can't I beat another?"

"Prove it, then."

* * *

Unbidden, the Pokedex chimed "**Sucker Punch, a dark-type move. The moment the opponent prepares to perform a technique, the user attacks, catching the foe off guard.**"

_Right before the Flame Wheel… _

That most certainly fit the description, but he couldn't change the past and warn Cyndaquil of the incoming attack. He saw the Absol scoot back, looking quite smug- Now quite enraged himself, Ziri shouted "Swift!"

As Cyndaquil drew back a breath-

"Another Sucker Punch-"

"Quick Attack away!"

Although the speed of the Absol managed to beat out Cyndaquil's speed, the retreat gave time for Cyndaquil to let loose the shower of stars that literally caused a ripple on the Absol's body- Courtesy of impact and the prior momentum Shadow had.

Zailia was stunned at this- And then she called, now highly annoyed, "Get away and use Razor Wind!"

As Shadow shook off the wooziness-

"Flame Wheel!"

This time, the attack crashed from the side, sending the Disaster Pokemon sprawling and howling from the burnt fur. Thoroughly livid, she now called "Night Slash!"

This time, it worked.

* * *

It had been an hour, and both her Pokemon- Starlight and Flora- were thoroughly exhausted from the gauntlet that they had gone through.

The monks _all _had Bellsprout, and some Hoothoots- Starlight had a somewhat better time dealing with them than Flora, but it was still risky- Bug types are easy prey for flying-type moves, same as grass-types.

Which meant that they were both heavily wounded and fatigued, but at the very least she'd found a potion in the tower, so they were getting on well- Somewhat well.

She thought about going back down to the Pokemon Center, but she immediately brushed off the thought. She needed endurance, didn't she?

Flora looked fatigued- Rightly so, for the three Synthesises that she had already done drawn upon internal energy for the accelerated photosynthesis for the wounds- Which her owner had still not realized.

The next time she tried Synthesis, there would be guaranteed failure, despite somewhat better performance since the Contest.

Her owner moved on, and Starlight followed, eager for battle, while Flora followed with somewhat reserved thoughts…

It was the third floor, and Hannah was feeling quite confident when she suddenly heard a rather loud _crunch _coming from up the staircase she was standing in front of.

She looked up, startled, and then there was a snap of jaws and a yowl- Of anger, of missed prey…

She listened, with a foreboding feeling, and now there was a hiss of… Water? Yes, that was it; water was being blasted out, and now there was a trill of pain…

There was yet another snapping of jaws, slightly muted this time; now there was a weaker sound expressing agony.

Another, calm voice, and there was a thump a few seconds later. No, two thumps- But then, that same, wizened old voice spoke yet again, while an angry shout echoed through the tower.

The shout repeated even after a series of dull thumps echoed through the tower; until finally, came a loud _crunch_.

Unable to stay downstairs any longer, Hannah dashed up the stairs, to behold a rather battered Totodile and an unconscious Hoothoot being held within its jaws.

The owner of the Totodile was laughing rather cruelly, while on the other side of the expansive room the old man simply bowed his head down in defeat.

And it should be noted that the owner had a cap, with some stray green locks peeping out from underneath…

At that moment, he was loudly gloating "Your Bellsprouts were absolutely pathetic. I'll repeat it again- They were pathetic."

"I'll admit that I may have not been as strong as you," and Hannah caught a note of annoyance, "but that does not mean that I am terrible at battle with Pokemon. You may be strong, but so I may be as well, and you may just be stronger-"

"Then to me you're pathetic, how's that?"

"Shut _up_!" Hannah snapped angrily. "You mistreat Pokemon but you even hate humans as well-?"

Both looked at her- And then the boy changed his surprise to fury. "Well, well, you filthy _swine_" he spat out the last word, "Do you even think I _care_?"

"Not really," she snapped.

They both glared at each other, before the elder simply said "We could simply settle this now…"

Hannah looked at him. "How?"

"If you two confronted each other, perhaps…?"

It took her a second to realize that he meant a battle.

"That, considering who you are, is good idea," the boy sneered, "But I don't have time for pathetic excuses for trainers like her-"

"Then I challenge you, and you've got to accept!" she immediately responded.

He looked at her in utter contempt, once he realized that she had given him no way out, and then snapped "Then I hope that you won't be crying when I beat you into a pulp."

"_If _you can!"

With that, she coaxed Starlight forward, who looked more than happy to get into a battle; the teen only looked at the Ledyba once before chuckling evilly.

"This'll be fast…"

Hannah tensed, knowing that he was probably a better battler than her-

"Gastly, go!"

The spherical, purple-black Pokemon, with strangely out-of-place eyes and gaping mouth appeared, in light that seemed to instantly be sucked in by its natural black color, grinned evilly upon surveying the flying and bug-type in front of it. Hannah looked at it distastefully- _Especially _since it then opened its mouth, showing the world a very long tongue…

No matter. Immediately, she ordered "Starlight, use Comet Punch!"

Sure, the movement of the Ledyba's limbs took the Gastly by surprise- But the limbs simply passed through.

The boy only chuckled at Hannah's confusion about what the heck was going on, and merely said "Use Lick."

Immediately, grin returning, the Gas Pokemon opened its mouth- Realizing with horror (And disgust) what was about to happen, she called "Quick, Reflect!"

The glittering silver screen that appeared out of nowhere instantly blocked the long, dripping tongue that slurped upwards; the owner of said licker took no notice and called "Night Shade!"

She did not know exactly what kind of move that was, but she didn't want to find out. "Light Screen!" she now called.

Although the beams of sinister black from the eyes actually cracked the new screen of gold, they did not succeed in breaking it. The teen, now highly angered, called "Can you actually hit it this time, goddammit? Hypnosis!"

Hannah's eyes widened when she saw the dark waves emanating from the Gastly's eyes, which now glowed an evil shade of red. Instantly, Starlight began to wobble in midair, and so the Ledyba came down…

Snoring as its wings folded into its back.

She was stunned by this, having never seen such a dirty tactic before. The boy now laughed, crowing her stupidity through the tower- When he'd finished, he finally looked at her, victory seemingly at reach-

And then it slipped out like water through a hand.

Barely two second after he fell asleep, Starlight popped up, wings buzzing fiercely- To everyone's surprise.

Gastly included, everyone save the sage, who only smiled knowingly, was stunned at just how fast the Five Star Pokemon had woken up- And it was by a _Gastly_. Gastlys were infamous for their abilities of making humans- And Pokemon- hit the hay.

Why not this insect?

Slowly, shaking with shock and rage, the boy withdrew from his pocket a familiar red rectangular prism…

Hannah's mouth dropped open.

Why did he have a Pokedex?

"**Early Bird, an ability that some Pokemon who posses light sleeping habits have. One with this ability will wake up very early after being artificially induced into slumber.**"

With a start, she realized that even though her attacks were ineffective…

At the very least, one of his were.

"Fine," he said through gritted teeth, pocketing the Pokedex (With a jolt she realized that he must have stolen that as well, and now wished feverishly that someone could fix hers), and ordered "Night Shade. Now."

Hannah confidently ordered a Light Screen, which this time, being done with deliberateness, instead of instinct, held much better than before. This time, though…

"Go through it!"

Her eyes widened as the Gastly charged the Light Screen- And went right through. It's trainer now called a smug "Lick-"

"Supersonic!" Hannah cried.

That too was instinctive, but at the very least it worked- The close-range burst of loud, odd, and extremely painful sound crashed into the Gastly's face, jolting it violently- However, it was not a clean hit, because the tongue, already out, swiped across Starlight's face, bringing forth a disgusted buzz.

Said Ledyba recoiled from touch- Only to suddenly drop, panting. Hannah was confused at what had happened- Just like her opponent's Gastly, only that was a slightly more _drippy _version…

It was Licking itself.

Though physically impossible, being made of gas, the dripping tongue most certainly made an impression on itself- Gastly was busy thrashing around in apparent agony, but only built it up with continued self-Licking.

Back to Hannah's side, where she barely heard the angry roars of her opponent to pull together- No, she was running to the Ledyba's side, trying to diagnose the problem to its sudden inability to move.

_Then _she realized it, judging from the locked limbs.

Starlight had been paralyzed.

Now she was frightened about where this battle was going. But her fears were assuaged- Slightly- When she looked up to behold the boy's Gastly to be rather self-depreciating…

She scooted back just as it finally got its senses back in order, and floated upwards, very woozy.

"Finally, you useless piece of trash," its owner snarled, and Hannah glared at him. Not noticing her furious stare, which would have sent even Ziri on his knees begging for mercy, he ordered "Another Night Shade!"

Although she ordered a Light Screen, the paralysis over came the order, and Starlight was a sitting duck for the twin shadowy beams that struck and sent the Five Star Pokemon sprawling.

Hannah gritted her teeth, before calling "Another Supersonic-!"

"Curse!"

Before the Supersonic sound waves, which somehow were produced despite Starlight's condition, could reach Gastly suddenly seemed to shudder as a literal nail came out of nowhere and was, despite it being classified as a Gas Pokemon, slammed into it. Sure, the sound waves hit- But nothing happened, for it had already dropped to the ground, fainted.

Hannah was stunned. What kind of trainer could make their own Pokemon faint-?

And then the Ledyba, currently struggling to return to the air, stopped and slumped over.

"Um, Starlight?" she asked tentatively.

"Do I have to make you listen to the entry?" came the cold voice from across the room, and her head snapped up.

"Why yes, you do, since I can't understand why you somehow made both of them faint at the same time," she retorted, and he only smirked before he popped open his Pokedex:

"**Curse, a move that functions differently between types,**" the stolen Pokedex chimed emotionlessly, "**where as a ghost-type move the user gives up part of their energy in order to place a draining curse on the user's opponent.**"

Hannah's eyes widened. "You mean… You… You used it even though-?"

"My Gastly was close to fainting? Obviously," he snorted in derision. "It would have won… But it was already so weak anyway."

"Now…"

He returned his Pokemon, while Hannah hastily returned her own, and then faced her. "I obviously know what you're about to send out," he said in a bored tone of voice. "But don't think that I haven't foreseen that. You, obviously, know what I'm about to send out, right-?"

"Your Sentret?" she asked suspiciously.

He sneered. "I released it a long time ago, fool."

The tone sent a chill down her spine, but she didn't let it show. "Then what _do _you have?" she challenged.

"This."

* * *

Cyndaquil's previous momentum proved to be part of his downfall. Or, maybe his painful fall, but still.

Another part of it was the fact that this particular Absol, Shadow, had Super Luck as his ability.

The other part?

The fact that Ziri had seen this attack miss already, so he assumed it would miss again. But as they say, if you keep shooting bad shots, one of them will hit eventually- And when the bad shots are really nasty shots, you don't want to push your luck.

Considering that he'd never seen a Night Slash in action before, however…

Ziri could only watch and yell in horror as the Absol, still rolling, blindly swung his head, blade glowing- And clipping Cyndaquil's side, raking it open-

The Fire Mouse went through a tuft of grass that slowed him down before he could fall victim to another one- But that only made it worse for his owner, who now saw dark red staining green.

* * *

Flora stared from across the room at the Totodile that she had once spent many happy days playing with- But that was before the three of them had been put up as Pokemon for new trainers.

Well, technically she and Cyndaquil were still together- But for now no.

And Totodile…

She couldn't recognize any of the spunk that was both characteristic of Totodiles in general and this one in particular, since there was no other word for defining him save hyper. After all, he _had _bitten Professor Elm too many times to count…

She couldn't recognize her friend anymore at all, and shuddered violently at the empty eyes.

Their respective owners, taking no notice, stared at each other in a rather poor set of intimidation attempts- Which was broken when the green-haired boy suddenly shouted "Water Gun!"

Hannah could only laugh in disbelief as the water struck the Leaf Pokemon- And promptly did nothing at all save make Flora shake her head. "Why did you-?"

"Scratch!"

Unbeknownst to both of them the Big Jaw Pokemon had proceeded to get close while launching the stream of water; Flora quickly hunkered down as the claws swiped through the air, cutting a mildly deep gash in her side-

"Use Vine Whip!"

If someone's close to you, it means they're going to need freakish reaction time to dodge something you send out- Which meant that instantly Totodile yelped in panic, scooting back as the vines slammed it over and over again.

Not if his owner could help it: "Bite one of the vines!"

Hannah's jaw went slack as said miniature alligator closed his jaws around an oncoming vine, prompting Flora to cry out in pain. The boy, now smirking, lazily called "Grind your teeth!"

Now the Chikorita was on her knees as the massive fangs crushed her extension- Beset by panic, Hannah cried "Razor Leaf!"

It worked.

With strings attached.

Sure, Flora mustered enough concentration to send forth a barrage of leaves that sliced through the Totodile's skin- But although he was sent back, he kept his jaws' grip upon her vine, and so pitched the Leaf Pokemon forward as well.

Hannah, however, at this moment had one of those "_What would Ziri do_?" thoughts, and now shouted wildly "Use Tackle!"

The assumption that momentum already there would be supplemented would have had Ziri rolling his eyes, saying "Duh" (He'd taken an advanced physics course, obviously), but Hannah _would _have taken physics if it hadn't been for the fact that she was to move to Johto this summer.

She was, however, a crack chemist and historian…

Back to the present- Flora smashed into Totodile hard enough to dislodge those teeth from her vines, sending them both tumbling along the floor.

"Flora, get up and use Magical Leaf!" Hannah called.

"Get up and dodge it," the boy said dismissively, obviously confident in his Pokemon's abilities to dodge such an attack-

Too bad, because there's a reason that it's called Magical Leaf.

Because it never misses. The moment Totodile jumped out of the way of the oddly glowing leaves being launched, they suddenly reversed direction, smashing dead on into the Big Jaw Pokemon.

Growling, it bounced once before he struggled to his feet, glaring at Flora.

At this, Flora drew back, stunned at this apparent rejection of who they once were.

"_What did he do to you_?"

Her former friend from only a few weeks ago still kept up a glare, but spoke in a significantly softer voice, "_If I don't beat you, then I'll- I'll- He'll beat- Beat me-_"

He shuddered violently at this point, and her heart literally almost broke.

Their trainers, unaware of this exchange between them, paid no attention to the shuddering of either. The boy, now rather angry, coldly demanded "Bite."

Hannah was ready for it. "Use Reflect!"

Though Totodile reluctantly opened up his jaws and jumped forward, Flora immediately created a barrier that not even the fangs could crack. The Big Jaw Pokemon bounced backwards, disoriented; Hannah now ordered "Poisonpowder!"

As the powder drifted through the air, in the attempt to poison Totodile-

That was when the boy made his move.

"Go through it!"

For a second she thought he had lost his mind- Then she realized he hadn't been kidding. The Big Jaw Pokemon charged forward, right into the ominous purple drift of dust-

"Water Gun on the ground! Vault over it, now!"

With that, Totodile was boosted up, up and over by the solid stream of water from his mouth.

Hannah, nonplussed at this, decided to play it safe- "Flora, use Magical Leaf!"

He had expected that: "Water Gun, again!"

The impact of liquid against the glowing, multicolored leaves scattered them, depriving them of their homing abilities- Hannah was feeling slightly desperate at the closing proximity between them, and called out "Razor Leaf!"

This time, the boy lazily called, before the attack was even executed, "Scary Face!"

Flora froze in fear at the expression that the oncoming Totodile had on his face.

And then came the coup de grace.

"Finish that thing off with Ice Fang!"

Hannah did not know before she came to the Bellsprout- Or Sprout- Tower about what would happen when a grass-type was hit by an ice-type attack.

Now she did.

* * *

Cyndaquil staggered to his feet, breathing hard from the large and deep wound on his side; both Ziri and Zailia were silent, even as the blood began flowing along the ground.

Ziri found his voice first. "Can you go on?" he said softly, so softly that he wasn't sure whether the Fire Mouse heard it- But immediately, he turned and gave a vigorous nod.

Which immediately changed to a pained one as the wound, as if to prove its bearer wrong, let out a particularly large pulse of blood…

Zailia then sighed. "You're going to have to forfeit this one, you know…"

He glared at her, but with a sinking heart knew that she was right- Just one look at Cyndaquil told him everything he needed to know.

Said Fire Mouse, however, looked like he wanted to kill Zailia, to which the girl glared back- "What?" she snapped. "It's the truth, you runt, and your trainer knows it even if you don't."

Then she snorted and addressed Ziri. "You were an idiot to get on my bad side, you know that?"

"Says who?" he retorted, through gritted teeth.

In response, she brandished a case from within her coat, popped the lid open-

And, to Ziri's disbelieving eyes, showed him eight badges.

But they were unfamiliar, to what he had grown up with. "Aren't those fake?" he asked suspiciously. "I'm from Johto, and I've never seen those-"

"Of course you didn't," she cut him off, waving a hand, "These are from Kanto."

Ah.

"So," she said, resuming her business-like attitude, "I don't have all day for you to say it. Give it up-"

At those words there was a loud, angry squeal and a rather loud explosion.

Urya burst onto the scene- Panting- And realized with a shock that Ziri was battling someone, Blaze had been activated, and…"

There was a lot of blood.

Urya backed away, slightly sickened, but the four combatants- Ziri, Cyndaquil, Shadow, and Zailia took no notice of him.

Knowing that his trump card had been played and he had little time to use it, he yelled "Ember!"

Zailia, although stunned by this explosive maneuver, said confidently "Razor Wind-!"

Although, thanks to Cyndaquil's prior injuries, the barrage came out slower than it should have, giving Shadow a chance to launch a preemptive shockwave of air, the fireballs still smashed right through, sending Shadow for the zillionth time in those two days flying.

Zailia was shocked into slack-jawed-ness- Ziri immediately opened his mouth to order _his _coup de grace- A Blaze-powered Flame Wheel of doom- when he realized, with horror, that he was going to be endangering his best friend's life if he did, despite what Cyndaquil was doing (Looking at him expectantly for the order) while the flame on its back, ten feet high, became as he realized both a blessing and a curse…

* * *

The fangs sank into Flora's neck, and from said Chikorita came a high-pitched wail of pain that echoed through the tower as a patch of ice immediately spread across her formerly green-tinted neck-

If it hurt that much, Hannah reasoned in a panic, then it most certainly meant that grass-types were suckers against the cold. "Get yourself out!" she cried. "Use Vine Whip!"

The vines extended from Flora's neck- And slammed right into Totodile's throat. When the Big Jaw Pokemon released her, gagging and clutching his neck…

"Razor Leaf!" she quickly shouted.

Sure, it hit and sent the pseudo-alligator backwards- But more because his trainer had arrogantly ordered a hop backwards than by actual impact.

Mainly because the Leaf Pokemon was on her knees, but also because of the heavy ring of ice around her neck that was causing a _massive _bout of shivering.

"There we go," the boy said, and that pretty much summed it up.

"It's not over yet," she said through gritted teeth, and called "Synthesis-!"

Her voice faltered the moment she realized that although Flora was perfectly fine in hearing (The ice had obviously not spread up to her head, otherwise she'd be asphyxiating by now), the green glow that had temporarily formed almost instantly dispersed. She was stunned; "Wh-what's going on?" she stuttered, remembering yesterday's disastrous incident at the Contest…

Calmly, he popped open his Pokedex.

"**Synthesis, a grass-type move.**"

Well, that was obvious.

"**The user utilizes sunlight to heal any acquired wounds-**"

That was even more obvious, given the name; she was about to tell him to shut the damn thing off when…

"**-But the degree and number of times that this can be used depends on the user's strength and energy to accelerate photosynthesis and regeneration.**"

She wanted to die at that instant.

How could she have been so stupid?

* * *

"Cyndaquil," Ziri yelled, "Stop! Stop using Blaze!"

The Fire Mouse was so stunned by the order itself that he did not consciously put out the flames on his back- But when he whirled around to angrily complain…

He suddenly felt light-headedness catching up to him, and he looked on his side.

Cyndaquil could only gape at the amount of blood that, unknown to him, had been released during his period of intensified power. Ziri's mind flashed back to the battle that had happened what felt like so long ago, when he had learned what Blaze was.

"_The user accelerates internal combustion…_"

And, Ziri now realized with horror, also increased blood circulation- To this ridiculous amount.

Ridiculous as in creating a puddle almost three meters across that glinted forebodingly in the noon sun, creating a scarlet sheen across the ground...

He took a deep breath, knowing he had little to no time left to finish this.

Ziri secretly prayed for the former, when he opened his mouth, and ordered "Swift-"

Too late he remembered.

"Sucker Punch!"

He could do nothing but stare in combined disbelief and rage that he'd forgotten what she had up her arsenal, but now he was paying for that lapse of thought by the sound and sight of Cyndaquil flying and landing dismally on the ground- Thankfully away from the puddle of blood, but the wound continued to bleed- Evidenced from the rather bloodied fur on his front as he struggled to his feet, panting.

Ziri couldn't remember being this close to loss, and with a jolt he realized that he was in one hell of a hole with no way out.

* * *

Once the boy had stopped laughing, he said, loudly and quite triumphantly, "What're you going to do now?"

That was an obvious question for Hannah, with one Pokemon left- And that one was now shivering violently with no way to regain any lost health.

Totodile looked extremely guilty that he had been forced to do this lethal bit of treatment to one of his friends, but he could do nothing, with the thought of what his trainer would do to him if he showed any sign of regret or weakness.

Flora wanted desperately to break free, but she'd just been hit by an ice-type move- And even worse, the attack wasn't called Ice _Fang _for nothing. The incision on her neck had been instantly filled with ice, and it was literally chilling her from the very inside.

But most of all, she wanted to break the one in front of her free from the cold, dark clutches of his (Illegal) owner.

* * *

Miles away, Zailia, newly recovered from her Blaze-induced shock, smiled at the thought of victory. "Well? Aren't you going to give up now?"

Ziri _wanted _to go on- But deep inside, and bubbling out, was the realization that all the odds were against him and could only go up the more blood that his best friend lost.

By contrast, although Shadow looked tired, he still had a lot of strength left- Compared to the Fire Mouse in front of him, still stumbling, woozy.

Well, no- Cyndaquil was not woozy. He was just too busy screaming at himself.

_Why? Why wasn't it enough?_

_He stopped me… But it would have killed me to keep it up… _

_Then it's my fault. I'm too weak. I'm always too weak._

_It's always my fault, isn't it-? _

_Then…_

* * *

_I can't do anything anymore._

_And, I can't even do anything to help him…_

_We were friends, weren't we? Why are we fighting now?_

_How can I bring him back?_

* * *

As if both of them heard themselves through the miles that separated them-

_What do I have to __**do**__? _

* * *

Cyndaquil suddenly jerked violently, shaking as he got on all fours.

Urya immediately turned away, now totally sickened by all the blood that was there and the promise of much more.

Zailia's smile widened- If the trainer was so damn stubborn, then life would push he down and grind him into a pulp.

Ziri was about to just give up and forfeit anyway, but this was the final straw.

Groaning, he opened his mouth to say the words.

But they never left his throat.

At that moment the Fire Mouse, soon to be something beyond that, began to glow with a blanketing white light.

* * *

In that same timeframe, Flora literally shattered the "collar" of ice around her neck with a similar jerk.

The smile of the green-haired teen turned into a snarl of extreme annoyance. "Does that thing not know the definition of staying down? Totodile, finish it with Ice Fang!"

With a heavy heart, the Big Jaw Pokemon opened his mouth, preparing to spring forward as the air around his teeth began to crystallize-

And then he stopped in surprise, as a blanketing white light began to glow over Flora's entire body…

* * *

Ziri's jaw dropped , as, unnoticed, Synthia and Gale _finally _arrived behind him, and stopped, stunned with shared surprise.

"What is it-?" Gale began, slightly nervous…

Only to realize that the glowing white silhouette was elongating. The snout that was characteristic of all Cyndaquils began to disappear, as the body grew into it- Now, the rather spherical midsection began to streamline.

Visible ears up the head formed next, and even as Ziri watched the stocky feet, although very much capable for speed already, began to streamline along with the body to the point where they were now the same size and shape of the arms…

The light faded.

And before Ziri was Cyndaquil, the same Pokemon that he had chosen so long ago in New Bark Town- But yet it _wasn't_…

Suddenly, after a second of very pregnant silence, he roared, in a deeper voice than his previous form, "Quiiillll!"

At that point, two patches of flames vents- Two, one between the ears and one on his lower back- Exploded skywards, the moment he got on all fours.

The Absol in front of him immediately stepped back, obviously intimidated by this show of force- The look in the red, now-opened eyes was nothing short of furious.

It didn't help that the flames now spurting from his back happened to be one and a half times larger than before…

Slowly, hand shaking, Ziri looked at his Pokedex.

"**Quilava, the Volcano Pokemon.**"

Definitely not a Cyndaquil anymore.

"**Quilava are more aggressive than their previous unevolved forms. They easily intimidate their foes with their lithe speed along with superheated bursts of air and bursts of flames.**"

_Well_, Ziri thought giddily, _Right now it looks pretty intimidating already…_

He started, noticing that the blood had abruptly stopped flowing, although the wound still looked extremely sore…

Ziri felt the evil grin spread across his face, and Cyndaquil- No, Quilava, looked at him and returned that same evil grin.

And they both looked at the pair that opposed them, and instantly both stiffened.

"We're back, bitches," he said calmly, and Quilava flared up his flame vents to emphasize the point.

* * *

Flora was obviously a quadruped.

Yet, with stubby legs, she wasn't exactly the fastest one- But now, those same stubby legs began to lengthen dramatically.

The Big Jaw Pokemon's jaw dropped- Pardon the pun. His owner was in a similar state of shock, but he managed to hold his jaws together- Well, barely.

The neck, which could have before been said to have been just part of the body leading to the head being the neck, now actually became at _least _a foot and a half.

The ring of "beads" around her neck, previously the source of vines, now actually sprouted a ring of leaves- Curled up ones to be sure, but they were most certainly leaves.

And now came the leaf on the head- Though it was large before, it now became larger- And as if something had deliberately taken a chunk out of it, there suddenly developed a large circle on its underside, as the stem jutted out and then abruptly reversed direction, to create a scythe-like shape…

Before the light had even dispersed, the new Pokemon reared up on her hind legs, crying "Bay!"

Totodile cowered at the new form in front- Especially with the reared pose in front. Not that a quadruped like this could be a biped anytime he or she wished, unlike Quilavas, but still.

The teen could do nothing but helplessly gnash his teeth and immediately look up this new… _thing _in his Pokedex.

"**Bayleef, the Leaf Pokemon.**"

Hannah, who had been watching with bated breath, now knew what Flora had become- But there was more.

"**Bayleef** **releases a spicy scent from around its neck, invigorating both Pokemon and people. Sniffing it somehow will give people the will to fight.**"

Upon hearing this, Flora turned around and immediately ran up to her startled owner, and proceeded to give her a semi-hug.

Which proceeded to send them both to the floor in a crash that resounded through the tower.

"F-Flora!" she yelped, wondering wildly whether evolution had damaged her mind, "What're you-?"

She stopped the moment the Leaf Pokemon wiggled the shoots around her neck suggestively, spreading out the scent- Which, as previously mentioned, was fighting-spirit-inducing.

She inhaled deeply before she quickly slipped out of Flora's hold on her and stood up. "Let's do it."

With an enthusiastic "Bay!" the Leaf Pokemon turned around…

Only to suddenly sway, thanks to what her owner recognized as extremely obvious bite marks on her neck which had not truly healed with evolution. However, something else in the past gave her an idea of what to do here, but she knew that at this point it was all or nothing; so, she quickly ordered "Synthesis!"

This time, unlike the last, it worked- And, somehow it worked better as the bite marks completely closed up. Hannah breathed a sigh of relief, before smirking at her opponent, currently looking _very _unnerved- "What now?" she asked.

Her opponent returned her cocky phrase with a snarled "This isn't over yet," and opened his mouth to order an Ice Fang-

"Use Magical Leaf!"

This time, the leaves came out even faster thanks to the leaves on the Leaf Pokemon's neck contributing to the barrage. The boy barely had time to change his order to that of a Water Gun before they actually struck and ended the battle right then and there.

Not that it particularly mattered. "Now let's use Tackle!"

Flora charged forward, and Totodile had barely any time to look up before the significantly heavier body of Bayleefs over Chikoritas sent the Big Jaw Pokemon into the wall, where he slid down, looking extremely woozy…

* * *

**I'm in a mood for cliffies again... Argh, don't kill me!**

**Oh well. Oh, and LegendaryFairy- One request, can you _please _finally introduce Ziri in A New Menance? You said chapter 7, but I'm still waiting... But what the heck. Oh, and just a hint- Evolution will go berserk this arc. **

**Remember to review... With a bottle of Machampagne on top! **


	20. To be eaten or to be stolen from

**This week officially sucked. I had two hours each night and two more hours of studying every night as well- And it didn't help that I had a Facebook binge those few days in the time I had. Yes, I have little to no self-control... T_T**

**Oh well, what's done is done. This chapter is significantly shorter than the previous ones, its length harkening back to when I began this fic. In a way, a shorter chapter length is like a relief, mainly because of the fact I don't have to stress over how long it will be... I still have the deadline and you guys in my mind, so count on that. I may have some quality issues, so tell me and if I have to I'll make a mass edit. **

**So: To the ToR, this chapter will have some Luxray bashing... DON'T KILL ME! GAAHHH!**

**Happy Reading!**

* * *

Hannah was not stupid.

After all, if you get yourself in the top five of the school, as in top _numerical _five, not five percent, then you are most certainly not lacking in intelligence.

Therefore, at the moment Totodile appeared to be knocked unconscious, her mind was whirling out the possibilities.

_Is he trying to bide his time? But then I get to get in a bunch of attacks… _

_Is he trying to take as much damage as he can? It looks like something he would do… _

_But wouldn't there be some sign? _

_But then that would leave-_

And as if to confirm it at that very moment, a blue aura began forming around the downed Totodile, and she felt herself grow pale.

_Not Torrent-_

It was.

* * *

Quilava wanted a piece of that stupid Absol- and Ziri was happy to oblige. "Quick Attack!" he shouted.

Zailia only managed to open her mouth to utter the single word "Sucker-" before the heavier, yet somehow faster Volcano Pokemon smashed into Shadow's side.

Though her concentration was jolted by this blow, she completed her order. "-Punch!"

The Disaster Pokemon _would _have done it the moment she finished the fourth syllable, great as their bond was- But Quilava had come first and given it a good winding. Determined not to let up if his life depended on it, Ziri now called "Ember!"

With two patches of flames vents (Although each was slightly smaller than the previous single one before), the barrage was _almost _twice as thick, but who cared- That was enough for Ziri, who actually whooped as the barrage smashed into Shadow, who this time was forced to skid backwards in taking the attack.

In the meanwhile, Urya in the background muttered in amazement, "I don't know who she is, but she's so screwed…"

Not yet. But her fate _had _been decided.

* * *

Hannah's heart sank the moment she realized that the blue aura was present _again_, and was now currently enabling the Totodile to stand up, eyes glowing an ominous blue.

"Excellent," his owner said softly, a grin on his face.

"Water Gun."

Although Flora was a grass-type and performance had been improved across the board with evolution, she was still forced to hunker down in order to avoid being blasted off her feet despite her newly gained weight; Hannah noted this, and quickly shouted, "Flora, use Vine Whip!"

"Aim for its leg!"

It was a wild move, which worked- The vines swept underneath Totodile's leg, sending it spinning through the air before it landed with a thump. This also had the side effect of sending the stream of water being launched _way _off, so that the walls instantly dripped water as the liquid splashed over them…

The Big Jaw Pokemon immediately got up; back into his "annoyed" mode, his owner ordered "Rip through with Rage!"

Forgetting what had happened to Ziri when he faced the exact same move, Hannah shouted "Razor Leaf-!"

Disparagingly said, it did not work.

Totodile simply slammed his arms through them, being propelled by the Torrent; in the process, the glow that his body took, a red in contrast to the aura that emanated from both his body and eyes, only intensified and caused him to slam- Hard- Into Flora, who took a tumble, despite the obvious size difference.

As the boy now smugly opened his mouth to order an Ice Fang-

"Sweet Scent!"

Though Bayleefs did not have the soothing aroma of their pre-evolutions, they were still capable of generating sweet scents- As evidenced for just how the Big Jaw Pokemon suddenly stopped, drool dripping from its mouth as the pink odor swept over.

His owner, extremely angered, shouted "Get your head together, you useless piece of trash! You're supposed to win, not be struck dumb by some overgrown walking plant-"

His "useless piece of trash" comment was becoming rather common the more they encountered the guy; Flora, angered at being referred to as an overgrown walking plant (Which Cyndaquil- Well, currently Quilava- had chosen to refer to May's Venusaur by that and had gotten similar results), made a move to throw a Razor Leaf at him…

When Totodile, freed from the Sweet Scent, barreled into her in memory of previous orders and proceeded in a frenzy to Bite her neck.

Hannah's eyes widened; quickly, she yelled "Try and get it off and-"

She stopped, seeing that the Big Jaw Pokemon was _not _letting go despite the Leaf Pokemon's desperate thrashing, and then called instead: "Magical Leaf!"

The leaves flew skywards- Before it then arced downwards, glowing in a sinister manner to its target, and viciously struck, sending Totodile sprawling. Sure, a few stray leaves hit the user- But Flora was a grass-type, so no sweat.

The aura that signified Torrent was active was beginning to flicker as it got up woozily; smirking across the room, Hannah said in an uncanny imitation of what he had done only a few minutes before:

"What're you going to do now?"

* * *

Ziri now yelled "Cynda- No, Quilava, use Swift!"

The stars flew, but they didn't go unopposed- Zailia countered with an order of "Psycho Cut!"

This time, the blade jutting out of the Disaster Pokemon's head did not glow with a dark purple- Rather, it glowed with a light purple, but the result was all the same, since it simply cleaved through them all. Before the barrage was over, however, Ziri had yelled "Another Ember-"

"Shadow, Sucker Punch!"

Although Shadow yet again became a blur, sending Quilava sprawling with a yelp, he didn't do it without being forced to charge through the thick storm of flames that had been in the making- Which absorbed some of the momentum that he would have normally reserved for "spiking" his foe…

_I need something to defend against it,_ Ziri thought desperately.

Quickly, he took out his Pokedex and scanned Quilava's moves, praying for some sort of defensive technique-

And there it was, even suggested on the name. Zailia, having noticed how close the proximity between that annoying weasel-like thing and Shadow…

"Night Slash!"

Ziri took a deep breath, noting that Quilava was still winded and wouldn't be able to dodge anyway- And yelled, with closed eyes, "Defense Curl!"

Instinctively, the same curling tactics that had been with the Volcano Pokemon as a Cyndaquil showed themselves when, although it _looked _impossible, the lengthy body of the Quilava curled into a near perfect sphere- That proceeded to bounce away from the Night Slash.

To Ziri's intense relief when he opened his eyes, there was no new wound as Quilava, slightly dizzy from the bounce, uncurled…

Zailia looked like she was going to scream in frustration along the themes of "Why won't that stupid weasel go down!"

Ziri, however, looked perfectly happy about what was going on, and immediately called "Quilava, use Quick Attack!"

Zailia had no chance of ordering a counterattack, since the move lived up to the name quite well- No Sucker Punching something that pretty much sucker punched _you_. Noting this fact in rage, she quickly shouted "Shadow, use Razor Wind!"

Not about to let the window of opportunity go, Ziri yelled "Smash through it with Flame Wheel!"

Eager to do so, the Volcano Pokemon exploded forth- Now, with two flames vents, the cycling sphere of flames around it was thicker than before- And that showed in how he ripped through the Razor Wind, letting it harmlessly disperse, and in _just _how far Shadow flew in the following explosion of flames…

* * *

"Hurry up and finish the damn thing off!" the boy yelled furiously. "Ice Fang!"

Totodile darted forward, jaws surrounded by a glittering cloud of condensation; in response, Hannah, wanting to play it safe called "Magical Leaf!"

"Use Water Gun, but keep using Ice Fang! _Now_!"

Hannah's eyes widened as water combined with shards of ice ripped right through the cloud of stray leaves- And proceeded to send a protesting Flora backwards, head bent down in an attempt to avoid the cold. "Get out of there!"

Although the Leaf Pokemon jumped out of the path of the Water Gun, that was just the original path- Rather, Totodile simply swiveled his head and literally "tracked" her path of movement.

Back to square one they were- But Hannah had already ordered an extra Magical Leaf.

Sure, Flora was forced to brace against the ice-laced Water Gun some more, but not for long- The oddly glowing leaves that she had launched flew parallel to the Water Gun, and smashed into the user, sending him against the wall.

Hannah breathed a sigh of relief, before realizing that the Big Jaw Pokemon was getting up- _Again_.

She groaned, and decided to end the thing's misery right here and now. "Use Tackle!"

Her opponent's brow furrowed at this apparent loss of sanity- If your opponent knows a close-range move like Ice Fang and you're weak to stuff that include and/or suggest something related to cold things in the name, then who wants to get close?

But if she was presenting herself for a free hit and probable kill…

"Finish it! Ice Fang!"

As the Big Jaw Pokemon charged-

"Poisonpowder!"

The boy literally screamed in rage as he watched Totodile be enveloped inside a sinister cloud of purple that he himself had charged into; as Totodile stopped, looking quite sick, Flora smashed into him, sending him tumbling away-

"Razor Leaf!" Hannah yelled.

Coup de grace.

* * *

Zailia couldn't remember when she'd been this close to being beaten- But someone who, at least she suspected, to be nothing more than a novice.

She was right- But Ziri was too prideful to let that piece of information slip.

As Shadow slowly got up, the white fur scorched, the girl realized with a jolt that if it hadn't been for the battle yesterday that had ended so disastrously, she would be winning despite evolution.

Ziri had the feeling as well- Obviously, he had no idea what happened yesterday- But he suspected he would have been beaten long before now if her Absol had been in full fighting shape…

He was, in his mind, secretly fearful of what would happen if he had fought her when she was at full power- But he brushed it away.

It was her fault that she'd picked a fight with him, with a Pokemon at half health- And the past was full of ifs anyway.

He was snapped out of his contemplations by a yell of "Psycho Cut!"

Ziri wasn't falling for it. "Swift!"

Sure, the stars were _mostly _ripped through by the sinisterly glowing blade on Shadow's head- But the Disaster Pokemon was forced to stay back, lest he get struck by a stray star and break his focus.

Silence, as both stared at each other- And so did their Pokemon.

Ziri made his final move.

And so did his opponent, both yelling their high hopes to the heavens.

"Flame Wheel!"

"Night Slash!"

Both charged, one wreathed in flame while the other bathed in a cold dark-purple light.

Quilava left behind him a path of blackened ground.

Shadow left behind him a trail of deep claw marks, as both accelerated themselves to the highest possible speed that their limbs could muster.

A Volcano Pokemon versus a Disaster Pokemon- This was the end.

Both of them roared the moment they made contact.

For a moment, they stood still, each straining to get the upper hand- The whirling vortex of heat that surrounded Quilava, which was locked in contact with the enhanced sharpened blade of Shadow.

And then, the energies of the both reached the breaking point.

With a thundering burst of sound, at the point of contact everything exploded, sending both a massive plume of smoke upwards and a shockwave in every direction that snapped the trunks of a few trees to the side and forced Ziri to hunker down, straining to see what had become of his Pokemon. Zailia actually stepped back twice in her attempts to remain upright.

Urya, Gale, and Synthia behind them had a _slightly _easier time, being a bit farther from ground zero, but…

With a whoosh, something blasted out of the smoke, narrowly missing the side of Ziri's head, and slammed into a rock farther back- On Zailia's side of the battlefield, something whizzed by her own body and crashed into a tree, where it fell, slumped onto the ground.

The smoke cleared, and both Ziri and Zailia, ears ringing from the pure sound of the explosion, looked at what had flown out of the cataclysm at them…

* * *

The sharpened leaves, launched from the scythe-like appendage from the Bayleef's head, sliced through the skin of the Totodile, leaving behind several deep cuts on already slightly green-tinged skin, courtesy of poison.

It did not actually send Totodile backwards- Rather, most of it was sent to the sides, since Flora, in her moment of mercy, had _mostly _missed, afraid to hurt her friend beyond repair.

She didn't.

But it was enough.

The bluish aura around him faded, and the eyes became clear again- And the world beheld empty eyes.

It was already unconscious.

And then, with a small thud the Big Jaw Pokemon toppled on the ground.

The boy looked like he wanted to kill everyone in the room- Hannah, the opponent who had beat him- Twice, Flora, the one who had somehow evolved in the middle of the battle, and the old man, who had weakened his Pokemon already (Although Hannah's own happened to have been exhausted before), and…

The Totodile which had failed him so many times.

He looked around suddenly, to Hannah's confusion- Which was a cautious glance to see if Ziri was going to knock him out again- And made a sudden move to viciously kick the downed Pokemon in front of him, his face twisting into an expression of both contempt and rage-

And then a vine shot out, snagging around his leg. He stood there on one leg, surprised- Until said vine jerked violently, sending him sprawling into the middle of the room that everyone inhabited.

He looked up, quietly and violently cursing (Not like Ziri, who yelped his curses more in panic than anger), and realized that Flora was staring at him with one message that was so clear that only the blind could misinterpret at most.

_You do anything, you die_.

Flora looked like she going to back up those words too, as another vine came out of her neck, this time going dangerously close to _his_ neck…

He looked up defiantly, but made no move to escape- Hannah, for her part finally managed to find her voice and called "Flora, let him go!"

She gave him one last withering look before she obeyed her trainer's commands- He immediately stood up, glared at both at them, then reluctantly withdrew from his belt a Pokeball, which he returned Totodile into.

Hannah let out a sigh of relief that she didn't know had been there; after all, if your Pokemon looks like and almost came close to doing so, one would do the same. She watched him pay them absolutely no more attention at all, as he stalked down the stairs, looking like _he _wanted to kill someone.

From behind Hannah: "He is strong, but strength of that kind is not the kind that he ultimately wants to achieve."

She whirled around to behold the wizened old man, sitting in a cross-legged position, eyes closed in meditation. "What-? What kind of strength are you even talking about-"

"He wants the ability to crush his opponents effortlessly, with intelligence combined with strength- More of the latter, it can be said. But he cannot, when his Pokemon only follow what he commands them with fear of the retribution that he will rain upon them if they fail."

"You, however, guide them with something of shame, as if you are trying to find forgiveness in the ones you command…"

Hannah's face flushed. "What're you-?"

"That was not meant to insult." Now his eyes opened, and he scrutinized her. "It is good, because you recognize where you have done wrong and are trying to correct it."

"Now… You have ascended all of Sprout Tower. So..."

From beneath his robes he took out a disc- A disc that, with a jolt on Hannah's part, that was suspiciously familiar to the one that his Aipom had somehow found when Falkner had been the victim of Ziri's conquests and she had decided to watch…

"This is a Technical Machine, capable to teaching Pokemon a technique that they are both compatible with the technique- And one that they would never learn by themselves."

_That's _what they were. "And what… Uh, move does this one have?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Read it."

He handed it over, and on it she read "TM 70."

"Well?" she pressed. "What exactly does it-?"

"You do not know the true list, do you?"

Then she got the gist.

_The numbers mean-_

"This allows for Pokemon to learn Flash- Which in addition to blinding those that look into the burst of light, will light up any dark cave you may find."

It wasn't in her mind to blind anyone- But it seemed like a good Contest move…

* * *

Ziri's heart sank immediately the moment he could stand up and see what had become a missile and very narrowly missed him.

_Quilava…_

He immediately ran over, where the Volcano Pokemon was struggling to return to his feet; sensing his trainer kneeling over him, he looked up to Ziri's worried expression.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

Quilava nodded, although Ziri noted that it was a pained one. Nonetheless, he staggered to his feet and began to slowly walk toward the center of the battlefield, where the smoke was just clearing-

And both saw it.

Zailia was still kneeling- Kneeling over the squirming body of a certain Absol whose face was a grimace of pain. She was trying to coax it to get up; but at that point, judging from the expression, half hidden by her hair, even she knew that it was over.

Shadow made one final attempt to stand up- But with a exhausted yelp he fell over and didn't try again.

Ziri was now _extremely _thankful that the Disaster Pokemon had not been fighting at full capacity.

She suddenly stood up, and turned on him, eyes blazing- But by then, he was whooping, wildly punching the air in victory.

Both of his other Pokemon popped out of their Pokeballs, and immediately jumped onto him, sending him toppling while he howled, both in laughter and surprise, as they proceeded to mob him.

When he'd finally gotten them off, he looked at Quilava- And his newly good mood instantly disappeared.

The Volcano Pokemon was on the ground, breathing harshly- With his right side turned upwards.

And that was what sickened him. Quickly, Ziri ran over, gingerly placing a hand on the green-blotched cut…

Gale remembered the nature of the two attacks that had caused the explosion.

Flame Wheel versus Night Slash.

The explosion had been caused by energy generated from the two- Generated energy that was not normally generated naturally.

A literal wheel of flames versus a blade blanketed in sharpness-enhancing light.

From what he could figure, the energy created by both of them, Quilava and Shadow, had created a point of concentrated energy, driven forward by their momentum.

And from there came breaking point- Hence the boom boom pow.

But, there was one difference- The flames that covered Quilava created a kind of barrier that absorbed the some explosion, for all its force.

Gale was snapped out of his analyzing mode by Ziri's panicked cries- Looking up, he instantly noticed a large patch of green around the Volcano Pokemon's side.

He groaned. In addition to having released all that blood, that wound was now infected?

Urya had already bounded forth, but stopped at a safe distance as Ziri cradled his squirming Pokemon, gingerly feeling its wounds. "Uh, you guys know any medicine?" he asked meekly, raising his head to them.

Behind him, Zailia wordlessly returned Shadow to his Pokeball and for the first time realized that the boy that had just crushed her actually had _quite_ the gang of friends.

A twelve-year old who had an oddly-colored Beldum that floated along. A boy, somewhat older, that seemed to have a mask on his face- And a girl that was the most obvious flirt in history.

"Okay, you beat me," she said sullenly- It had been close, after all, but she hated the fact that she'd lost twice in two days- And from what she knew and saw, the second time to a complete novice by her standards. "Keep going, dammit-"

"Man, she is _scary_," Urya mumbled to Ziri in an offhand tone, and Ziri only gave him a weak smile as he debated what to do with Quilava's injury.

She heard- So she marched around Urya and proceeded to grab him by the throat and hoist him up.

"What did you say?" she asked sweetly.

Urya for that matter was now too terrified to say anything, but Ziri did.

Like a wraith he got next to her faster than a normal person could ever dream from simple walking- If they were in a _normal _mood anyways- and slammed both hands into her.

To get the idea of how much force that was put into that shove, consider that Zailia was 100 pounds exactly.

Her feet lifted completely off the ground for the next two seconds before she crashed onto the ground, five feet from where her impromptu flight had started. Urya was sprawled halfway the distance (He'd been grabbed along for the ride), but he was more than thankful for now to get rid of her dominating presence, scrambling away from her and sidling off against a tree. He didn't get far, before completely froze at the sound of Ziri's voice:

"You put your hand on them, there'll be more where that came from."

The tone of his voice was so icy that she was at a loss for a response- Gale, knowing at least some of what would happen, began to back away, while Synthia was busy trying to figure out what was up with this apparent bipolarness…

Rising up again, she whirled around, about to say an angry "What the hell-" when she suddenly felt seized by the look that he gave her.

There wasn't many words beyond total hatred to describe the look- And to be sure, Zirienji Axlhedron had always been emotional. And didn't they say that the eyes are the windows of the soul?

Gale broke the silence- Well, very hesitantly. "Ziri, you just beat her. Can't you just let her go to-?"

He gave him a piercing stare (Technically not the same on from before), and Gale froze. "_Where_ exactly are we talking about?"

"Uh, the Violet City Pokemon Center-?"

"_WHAT_?" he roared.

From three miles away the cawing and squawking of various flying-types that were jolted viciously with surprise at his outburst- But he wasn't finished yet, so poor birds. No place of calm for them. Ziri was staring at him, livid. "You," he snarled, "Are going to hole me up with _her_?"

Gale honestly had no clue what to say, but anger was coming to his defense now. "So?" he snapped. "What's wrong? Can't stand being stuck in there with a _girl_-?"

He had pulled that wildly from the back of his head, and it couldn't have any competitors in just how far off it was.

Ziri threw back his head and laughed.

He laughed for so long it was a miracle to them that he hadn't asphyxiated- If they had been capable to comprehending that fact, since that laugh was one both mocking and cruel in tone. "Oh my god," he said snidely, "How much of an idiot are you?"

Gale was so rattled by the laugh that he only felt his jaw a few seconds later- Before Ziri kept going.

"I'm staying _away_ from that bitch, mainly because-"

Zailia whirled around, eyes blazing. "Care to say that again-"

Ziri didn't hesitate, and slammed both hand into her shoulders once more, sending her flying. But he hadn't held back; he'd thrown all his weight into the blow, and it was a miracle that her shoulders hadn't instantly fractured.

As she dropped to the ground, unable to speak from the massive sensation of pain in her shoulders, he continued, unabated: "-She's the one who did _this _to my Pokemon, and only if you're blind am I going to forgive you if you don't see what she just freaking _DID_!"

He yelled the last part and lifted Quilava, so that the sickly-green-ringed slash became visible to all.

Everyone was silent, until Synthia endeavored to say "It wasn't _her _fault-"

"_Liar_!" he shouted. "If she hadn't been so damn willing to beat me into the ground over something that happened yesterday, _then this would have happened_!"

With that, he whirled around and blur-ran southwards.

Away from Violet City.

He had ditched them. Totally, absolutely, and incredibly.

* * *

The reasons behind his run: It was something of a selfish reaction to everyone of Quilava getting hurt. But it was a lot deeper than that.

Any trainer is worried when their Pokemon gets sick. Maybe they get ticked off at the person who had a part in causing it, whether he or she did or not- But in the end, goodwill is restored.

But Ziri, having grown up with no friends, even people that he could say "Hi" to every day save a briefly happy period that ended hellishly, treated his Pokemon like family.

Therefore, he had blown up as if he had been angry about a family member getting the receiving end of, say, a car going rogue and slamming into said family member.

And he had seen himself how Shadow's Night Slash had ripped through Quilava's side, so put two and two together and you get the present- Ziri going berserk and running as he was now blur-running towards what he believed to be Azalea Town.

No such luck.

* * *

He'd been running for an hour now- He'd long since dropped out of blur-running mode, fifteen minutes into the run (Though towards he'd had the stamina to go into another, short burst). That meant twenty miles had been covered at an estimate.

Now he stopped, the sweat dripping off of him in a representation of his fatigue- Half that, but half because his arms were sore from carrying the currently shivering Volcano Pokemon.

Ziri gingerly lowered Quilava down to the ground, and he fell back, gasping for breath as he lay eagle-spread underneath a conveniently shady tree.

Ten minutes later, he'd gotten up in search of any berries with Aipom- And coming back, would get him in far more trouble than he'd ever bargain for.

* * *

In the space of the hour and ten minutes which Ziri had sprinted, stopped, and rested, he had passed by someone very fast.

The man, unmasked, was walking with his Luxray when someone _very _rudely interrupted his walk- And sent him toppling from the shockwave that Ziri left in his own wake.

Luxray, having been on Ziri's left side when he took his run, in contrast to his owner being on the right side, was also knocked over- But his… _Condition _didn't leave him on the ground very long, before he bounded up, and howling rushed after Ziri in a frenzy. His owner got up a second later, chasing him as well, calling for his first Pokemon to slow down- With little to no success.

Therefore, at that moment, Ziri would find himself tangled between two kinds of devils- With no clue whatsoever about which one was worse.

The moment he came back, having found an appreciatively large grove of berries in the woods, he realized that four men were standing over Quilava's prone form.

They were talking in excited voices- And Ziri didn't like the words and/or the subject matter, such as this particular quote: "Quilavas are pretty damn rare, how much is it gonna sell for-?"

He immediately whipped out Quilava's Pokeball and returned him, much to the shock of the men- When they looked up and jumped back at the same time, he noticed a large R on the front of their black shirts…

"Who the hell are you-?" the one on the far left yelped. However, the one next to him whacked the back of his head in annoyance.

"He's obviously the owner, nitwit." Then he looked at Ziri, narrowing his eyes at his Pokeball-holding belt and the currently-bulging backpack (From the berries and miscellaneous supplies he'd brought at Violet City). "I'd say we take it from him, then-"

Ziri broke his silence. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded, "Oh, and why were you talking about a price for Quilava-?"

The one who had whacked his comrade on the back his head coughed loudly. "You obviously have no clue who we are, do you?"

Ziri didn't miss a beat: "Don't wanna."

The previous speaker's brow, half-covered with a cap and ringed with blond hair, furrowed. "You obviously don't know how much trouble you're in-"

Again: "Don't wanna."

Now he was extremely annoyed. "What happens if we tell you that-"

He never got to- At that moment, Luxray, heavily exhausted but very much angry, burst onto the scene with a roar.

Ziri had never seen a Luxray before, and so cowered immediately- Along with Aipom, who instantly screeched in panic and jumped on him, tail instinctively wrapping around his neck and so giving him another hilariously obvious state of asphyxiation- Which, for some odd reason, Luxray did not notice as he prowled the part of the road they were all on, snarling at everyone in sight.

Which did not count Ziri. Anyway...

Slowly, they all began to recover their shock, and the men all simultaneously drew out Pokeballs.

Which they all sent out at once.

"Go, Pinsir!"

"Crush that thing, Gligar!"

"Rip it to pieces, Machop!"

"Get out there, Ekans!"

The four, one bug, one flying and ground, another fighting, and the final one of the poison-type, popped out, and suddenly realized that the snarling Luxray from first sight had a rather nasty ability.

If anything, it should be and was called Intimidate- Every one of the four instantly froze up in fear.

That was enoFang attack that instantly clipped the Pinsir into an electrifying guillotine that made it jerk twice before it went limp with for Luxray to burst forward in a Thunder

By then, however, Gligar's trainer (The blond one) had called "Use Faint Attack!"

The FlyScorpion Pokemon disappeared- Only to reappear and slam Luxray from behind…

Only to realize that for some odd reason the Gleam Eyes Pokemon barely felt it.

_Barely,_ however never won you the lottery when you were _barely _one number off.

Luxray turned around, glaring at the Gligar who then immediately froze up yet again; that bit of fright then enabled Luxray to crash into it with the force of a Double Edge that sent it, like the poor Skiploom from yesterday, through two trees.

At that instant, the owner of the Ekans had shouted "Use Wrap!"

The Snake Pokemon rushed up to the Gleam Eyes Pokemon's leg, instantly slithering up- And then tightening itself around Luxray's neck-

Luxray, to the surprise of all, did not notice it as he gave the Pinsir _another _Thunder Fang (Previously unable to move and therefore a sitting duck) causing the Pincer Pokemon to instantly drop to the ground, unconscious- And _that's _when Luxray performed the trump card.

With a roar, the Gleam Eyes Pokemon cackled with electricity- the Ekans was instantly fried- Which blasted out in all directions, catching the Machop in midair, hand poised to perform a Karate Chop; the Superpower Pokemon flew twenty feet through the air and would have gone farther had it not bashed into a tree (Which ominously bent, but didn't fall).

Ziri at the moment _would _have sat up, wanting to snarl at Aipom for making his life flash before his eyes- Would have if it hadn't been for a blue-tinged bolt of electricity shooting right above his face at that second.

He stared upwards, desperately hoping nothing bad would happen if he sat up again- Which he did in another three seconds.

Bad move.

At that moment, Luxray turned his attention from the Pokemon that he had just thrashed with relish to glare at Ziri, who froze like a Girafarig in the headlights.

How bad was his day going to get?

* * *

It was a strange gang that trudged back to Violet City- Zailia, to whom everyone present still did not know who she was- And nor did she want to tell them.

Urya, now depressed (Ragnarok was trying to comfort him, but still) that he had nobody to screw around with mentally, simply moped around.

Synthia was highly disappointed at not getting to have another shot at Ziri- After all, she had never known any guy or any human being for that matter to run that fast.

Gale was simply stuck in the middle trying to figure out how he was supposed to fit himself into this kind of group.

It didn't help that he was naturally a noir-kind of person- So no chatting whatsoever.

* * *

Luxray began to slowly stalk forward, while behind him the men silently watched, not wanting to be next on the menu- Or to move up on it.

Ziri was still frozen in fear- But now his brain was beginning to grind into motion.

_How am I going to get out of this one_?

Aipom was still cowering behind him- Well, was newly, since she had instantly jumped behind his back when he sat up.

Still, however, he could literally feel resolution beginning to replace fright…

He still had Togepi- And if he had to, Quilava would be used against this... Monstrosity.

He had a firsthand account of how powerful the damn thing was.

He, however, was not going to be gobbled up without a bloody, loud, profanity-laced, and generally hectic fight to the death.

He now stood up, and Luxray drew back, startled- Ziri stared at the narrowed eyes before him and, loudly, said "Come and get me, you overgrown lightning rod of a lion-"

Luxray looked like if he could explode, then Violet City would be instantly razed.

But, luckily for Ziri…

At that moment the Gleam Eyes Pokemon's ears perked up, and then he bounded off towards where he had come from.

Ziri was stunned at his good fortune.

Well, not so good.

As it turned out, Luxray had left, so Ziri and his Pokemon weren't going to be eaten for lunch- But now the Team Rocket members were looking at him evilly, fear gone.

_Crap_.

* * *

**Viola, that's that. Whether Ziri is going to be pwned or not is up to me, peeps, so don't flood my inbox with appeals to save the poor guy. **

**And it appears that he now has a phobia of Luxrays...**

**Oh well. PLEASE! REVIEW! With a Tamato berry on top!**


	21. Vigilante

**Man, I got a four-day weekend, suckas!!! **

**That's why, unlike last week, I can afford to update on this Saturday morning. So, with all the free time I have, I'm guessing I'll be done with the next chapter on Friday- Which means faster entertainment!! For you guys at least- I'm just happy that you guys can enjoy this story.**

**To the Triumvirate of Rei- I thing we need a team switch, since you gave me an overpowered set of Pokemon... Oh well. **

**To the reviewer only known as yomaster- No, you can't do that. I already have the basic story structure in mind, so no proposed relationships- And I couldn't actually understand that OC profile of yours... I might introduce him anyway, but what the heck, everything is prototype right now. Sorry...**

**Without further delay, Happy Reading!!**

* * *

The man stopped, out of breath from the combination of both running and calling Luxray's name; a few seconds later said Gleam Eyes Pokemon proceeded to bound out of the groves of trees and tackle him to the ground, licking his face in wild enthusiasm.

He let it go on for a second before he had a move to get up; as he shoved himself to his feet the Gleam Eyes Pokemon quickly jumped back attentively.

"What was that that passed us?" he asked his Pokemon, and immediately Luxray turned, jabbing his head in the direction from where he'd just ambushed his master.

"Is it human?"

Luxray nodded.

The man blinked in disbelief- Bu he trusted his Pokemon, and he'd known and seen stranger things than this. So, he nodded, and began to run anew towards the disturbance that Luxray had indicated, said Pokemon now running besides him…

* * *

Alex was bored.

Six hours and twenty-five minutes and counting since the shipment had been supposed to arrive this morning at the earliest- And that stupid shipment had still not arrived.

It was due by the end of today- But Alessandra Cesarini was not known for her patience. Well, she wasn't exactly well known at all, but to those close to her, _especially _Francesco, it was the number one thing you should know.

Ziri still didn't know, but he'd seen no reason to invoke this particular facet of her personality before, obviously…

She had it with waiting, and so she jumped off the bunk bed in the room that everyone had shared previously and smacked her Pokegear open.

"There had better be a good reason why they're late," she growled through gritted teeth, as she hit Professor Oak's number and immediately dropped her ticked-off demeanor in anticipation of talking to the most famous of all Pokemon Professors.

In her dreams.

Three soundings of the dial tone later, she got a brusque "Hello?"

Definitely not Professor Oak.

"Um, is Professor Oak there-?"

"No it is not. Are you another one of those crazy nerds wanting to get his autograph? The answer is no, he's a busy man, and he does not have time for you to be drooling over what he's done and possibly ruining the stuff that's he's working on now-"

Alex _almost _lost it right then and there, but she managed to control herself. "I'm just asking about a shipment of equipment made to Violet City destined to arrive today. Are you going to be kind enough to at least explain what happened to it and when it'll arrive?"

She was surprised to hear the grudging tone of "Yeah, wait, lemme check…"

Ten seconds later, he came back, his voice gruff once more: "It got delayed slightly… It's not coming until at least six in the afternoon. One of our tech people that's going is busy on it while it's coming to where you are… Wait a sec, who are you again-?"

"My name's Alex Cesarini… Anyway, bye!"

And with that, before he could assault her over the phone with his unpleasant demeanor again, she hung up.

* * *

At that point in time, Hannah was just coming back to the Pokemon Center, dazed; she immediately saw the entire gang, minus Ziri but plus a new girl, in the waiting area.

"What happened?" she asked, walking towards them after submitting her own Pokemon to the care unit. Flora was rather depressed over not stopping the mystery teen or at least getting a piece of him to keep, but she had the feeling that they'd see him again eventually…

Urya looked up, looking thoroughly miserable. "Ziri's left."

Hannah blinked. "Wait… You're telling me… He…"

Then it hit her. She stalked over, grabbed Urya's shoulders, and propped him upright roughly, to the (1) surprise of all, and, (2) terror of Urya as he quivered beneath her furious gaze.

"What did you happen to do to drive him off?" she asked in a deathly calm tone.

"Um," Urya mumbled, "Uh… Nothing…"

"Then why are you looking so guilty?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I don't have anyone else to annoy anymore-!" he pouted.

Hannah didn't waste any more of her breath and knocked him out cold instantly with a slap that she _usually _reserved for Ziri… But was more than enough to send Urya blubbering into unconsciousness.

Ragnarok looked torn between avenging his master and rolling on the floor laughing, or however Beldums laugh.

"Okay," she said, her voice once again deathly calm, "can someone explain to me, without having some stupid agenda behind it, why he left? And why are _all _of you looking like that?"

Meaning rather depressed, but in the new girl's case she looked like she wanted to kill somebody.

Hannah had a nasty feeling of who that might be, but she held her tongue and waited.

Gale broke the silence. "This… Person, I guess," he began, indication the new travel companion they had, "picked a fight with Ziri. Somehow, his Cyndaquil had its side slashed open by something, but then it evolved in the middle of the battle-" she started in surprise, but kept listening "So then he somehow managed to finish her off."

"But?" she pressed on. "Why would he ditch because he won? He's not like one of those "I'm holier than thou" people-"

As a side note, she hated that kind. Anyway…

"That wound I was talking about… It's infected. I don't know where he is now, but he ran south, with that crazy speed of his…"

* * *

The events above happened roughly an hour and a half after Ziri had the run in with Team Rocket- And _him_.

In the "meanwhile"…

Ziri, having realized that while one evil (To him) had inexplicably run off, the other evil was now staring him down greedily, despite their weakly-twitching Pokemon.

"Um, what?" he said meekly.

"Will you just cut the crap and hand over the damn Quilava?" the one on the far right cut in gruffly, and the other three vigorously nodded their agreement.

It should be noted- And Ziri did note this- That they left themselves open for the annoying verbal comeback that this particular teenager had perfected all thoseyears ago as the premier annoyance tactic of New Bark Town.

"Don't wanna."

The evil grins dropped to be replaced by exasperation. "Oh come _on_," the one who had previously not yet spoken (Save ordering out his Machop) said, "Will you say something more original-?"

"Don't wanna."

"Okay, you're _really _ticking us off, man," the one on the far left snarled, who Ziri now noticed was very heavyset. "You want to mess with us-?"

"Don't wanna."

Despite, after logically deciphering the route of the conversation, Ziri having said that he did _not _want trouble, they went berserk. Returning their original Pokemon to their Pokeballs, the four took out a new set and threw them furiously skywards.

After Ziri had shielded his eyes from the flashes of white, he looked up…

To see (1) a rather interesting capsule-like… _thing _sticking out of the ground with an obvious nose, (2) another of those Machops, (3) a bat-like Pokemon with no eyes, and (4) another Ekans.

Quickly whipping out his Pokedex, he was greeted with the chime of "**Diglett, the Mole Pokemon. No one has ever seen the feet of these curious Pokemon, who have amazing speed behind their small bodies. When they go through a field, the pits that they leave behind are perfectly tilled for growing crops.**"

Then, when he turned it to the freaky-looking bat: "**Zubat, the Bat Pokemon. Zubat are blind; they navigate with ultrasonic waves. They, when threatened, absorb the energy of the opponent through their razor-sharp fangs**."

_Not good, _Ziri thought.

"Well?" the blond one said impatiently. "Ready to face Team Rocket's Beta Squad-?"

The words left his mouth before he realized it.

"Why are you guys called the Beta Squad instead of the Alpha Squad? I mean, doesn't that mean you guys are secondhand?"

They stared at him, uncomprehendingly, before they realized that they had been degraded in his eyes.

Bad move.

They all gave simultaneous howls of rage and yelled their orders.

"Diglett, Mud-Slap!"

"Machop, Karate Chop!"

"Zubat, Leech Life!"

"Ekans, Acid!"

A burst of mud, a glob of yellow goo; both flew at Ziri and Aipom, who simultaneously yelped, and jumped out of the way in opposite directions.

A second later, both looked up, and wished they hadn't.

Aipom was being assaulted by the Zubat, who seemed quite addicted to sucking her blood; Ziri was being charged at by the Machop.

Again, he dived to the side, while Aipom jumped over her attacker; by then, however, the two staying at the back had moved up, as per orders-

"Ekans, Bite!"

"Diglett, another Mud-Slap!"

Although Ziri succeeded in hopping away from the outstretched jaws of the Snake Pokemon, Aipom was not so lucky, getting a face full of mud. Squealing with outrage, she hopped around, inadvertently dodging the repeated attempts of Zubat at close its jaws around her.

Quickly, Ziri, while dodging both a Karate Chop and a Bite (The Bite actually secured itself around the Machop's leg, causing an immediate bout of bickering and mass pain as Ekans refused to let go and the Superpower Pokemon resorted to bashing it with Karate Chops), yelled "Swift!"

He figured that, if Aipom was currently blinded, then an attack that couldn't miss even if you had an "eye problem" wouldn't miss anyway…

Well, duh- Even though the stars _would _have flown off a foot off to the left, they automatically snapped towards the Diglett, who let out a large squeal as it was struck.

Dead on the nose.

Ziri had the feeling that Aipom had an interesting talent for hitting Pokemon where it hurt, but he wasn't complaining- The Diglett's head dropped forward, and the trainer was left jumping up and down in rage.

At that moment the Zubat secured its jaws around Aipom's arm.

Although she screeched and began thrashing around, Aipom couldn't get it off; Ziri, noticing that the Machop and Ekans at the behest of the their owners were beginning to turn their heads to him, yelled "Aipom, one more Swift!" before he dived to the side.

_I need another Pokemon out_, he thought desperately.

Right now, Quilava was out of the question.

That left…

He took a deep breath, and as the Snake Pokemon dived at him, he threw Togepi's Pokemon dead between its eyes. In addition to sending it crashing to the ground, eyes going in circles…

Togepi popped out, chirping cheerfully.

Everyone besides Ziri, Aipom, the Zubat and the currently dizzy-from-impact Ekans stared at the Spike Ball Pokemon before they burst out laughing.

But in their laughter, Ziri took the opportunity to mouth the word _Metronome_.

Immediately Togepi waved its stubby arms- And instantly all the laughter stopped to watch in fascination at the waggling, glowing fingertips…

And then the glow stopped, and Togepi was left there, glowing innocently.

Ziri groaned, and began backing away.

Suddenly, the Spike Ball Pokemon's aura faded, and Togepi began jumping around for no good reason. The laughing resumed, as Ziri watched helplessly.

It wasn't even jumping _on _the things just to help!

He swore under his breath, before he consulted his Pokedex quickly.

"**Splash, a normal-type** **in which** **the** **user** **helpless thrashes around for no good reason.**"

He swore louder this time, before he noticed the Machop walking over, and for what appeared to be amusement kicked it lightly.

Togepi immediately popped up, loudly chirping in what _sounded _like indignation… But he wasn't sure.

Well, it was actually true, and this is what Togepi said.

"_What was that for, you gigantic queer-looking bully-!!_"

The Machop stared at Togepi, uncomprehendingly. "_Um… I'm gigantic…?_"

"_Yes! Fine, time to get really, really serious!_"

With that, the Spike Ball Pokemon scrunched up its face, an odd aura glowing around it.

Everyone stopped laughing to observe what the heck was going on; even the Zubat, still having not drunk its fill of blood from Aipom despite having been hit by the Swift (In a place where it didn't hurt too much), let go to watch in fascination.

The odd aura was not as solid as, say, Totodile's Torrent- But it was there, an odd light purple.

Ziri remembered his fight with Zailia- That same color was present around that Absol's blade whenever she ordered something called "Psycho Cut"…

At that moment, the Machop suddenly yelped in pain and looked like it _would _thrash around in pain…

If there wasn't something invisible holding it back. Which anyone with a brain could realize that it was Togepi doing it.

And then the Superpower Pokemon dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Slowly, Ziri looked at his Pokedex once more.

"**Extrasensory, a psychic-type move that involves the user generating an invisible force to assault** **the ****enemy.**"

Ziri now remembered how psychic attacks were strong against, of all things, fighting-types…

And weren't Machops called Superpower Pokemon, dead ringer for combative Pokemon?

Ziri took a deep breath, and yelled "Togepi, another Extrasensory!"

The Team Rocket members could do nothing but yell in disbelief as first the Zubat screeched in pain and dropped to the ground, and then the then-struggling Ekans became an unconscious Ekans in the short span of five seconds.

Aipom, woozy from blood loss via Leech Life, looked up, to find all four of the Pokemon that they had been sent out against them downed, all unconscious and their owners stuck in a state of perpetual disbelief.

However, the blond one (Ziri now figured out him to be some sort of leader figure) now sneered. "Think you've won?"

Immediately, the other three whipped out a new Pokeball for themselves- But he instantly said "I'll deal with him."

Although they looked sullen at this, the three backed down, and he pulled out his own.

"Hope you like the smell," he said smugly, and threw it, to reveal…

A thing with a massive tail that drooped over its back and part of its face, colored purple and white- No, the white mainly belonged to a large stripe along the tail. It's face consisted of a pair of large cheeks and

Ziri blinked at it, and it blinked back.

"What the hell is _that_?"

His question was instantly answered by his Pokedex instantly speaking: "**Skuntank, the Skunk Pokemon. Skuntank spray a foul-smelling liquid from their tails to attack, from up to a hundred and fifty feet away. In addition to the misfortune of the victim, the stench will worsen the longer the stench is allowed to fester.**"

Ziri winced. "Geez, could you have gotten something with more finesse?"

The guysnorted in derision. "You think we care what a kid like _you _think?"

"Uh, yes?"

His eyes narrowed. "Oh, you're going to pay for that, you little-"

"Don't wanna."

At this point, he exploded. "Skuntank, use Flamethrower!"

Ziri wasn't going to argue with just how the hell the thing knew a fire-type attack like that; rather, with the memory of what Togepi had (Ironically) picked with Metronome just yesterday, he shouted "Get behind the rock!"

He was talking about a rock only a few feet to the Spike Ball Pokemon's left- Togepi took the cue, and dived for it, just barely avoiding being roasted alive with the flames- To be sure, the smelly flames, being launched from the tail, but…

Noting that Togepi was shielded for now, he decided to do the coup de grace now; he called "Use Extrasensory!"

Nothing, save for the Spike Ball Pokemon getting a look of strenuous concentration on his face, happened.

Skuntank looked slightly confused, since he was feeling some kind of force lightly nudging him; his owner now threw back his head and laughed mockingly. "You really don't realize what dark-types are to psychic-types, do you?"

"Don't wanna."

He didn't even hesitate this time. "Night Slash!"

The rock which Togepi was hiding behind was ripped apart by the attack that was all too horribly familiar to Ziri- Now trying to figure out why Extrasensory, for all its power, had failed as well as now attempting to get Togepi to run…

"Quick, Metronome!"

In the middle of rolling around in its attempts to dodge Skuntank's outstretched claws, the fingers began waggling around, which produced…

Suddenly, Togepi rapidly flapped its wings, a new look on concentration on its face as it, to the disbelief of all, began actually _flying _up, up and away.

Ziri watched, openmouthed, remembering the formula for flight that he'd learned in physics.

_Lift is proportional to area available for thrust. _

_Weight drags down the object. _

_Drag is the sum of air resistance to the general shape of the object._

The last time he checked, Togepi couldn't rise up, up and away on pure arm-flapping power…

And the shape- Ziri wanted to scream at the physical impossibility of a freakin' half hatched flying egg.

Then what was going up, up, up, and going higher up?

Oh well; what comes up must come down.

Three seconds later, Togepi fell from the sky and conked the Skunk Pokemon dead on the head.

Everyone's mouth dropped open at the sight of the much larger Pokemon staggering from the impact of a flying egg- Ziri barely had any feeling in his body to pull out his Pokedex again, but he managed. Barely.

"**Fly, a flying-type move that involves the user accelerating upwards before the user dives and strikes the foe. This can be used as a form of aerial transport.**"

_Oh._

"Skuntank, use Flamethrower again!"

Ziri looked up- Just in time to see Togepi almost roasted alive by the stream of flames. Though he called out a Metronome…

"_Don't you dare stop!_"

Although Ziri was first inclined to yell at mister blondy for yelling at his Pokemon, he realized with much trepidation that the Skunk Pokemon was a willing collaborator and kept up the Flamethrower, breaking the Spike Ball Pokemon's concentration. Togepi kept running- But everyone could see the Spike Ball's stamina running low, judging from its pained expression…

_I have to stop that thing_, he thought desperately.

Therefore, he yelled "Charm!"

Togepi, having taken refugee behind a rock, let loose a burst of hearts, that, although Ziri winced at it, immediately put a dazed expression on the Skuntank's face upon loud, poppy and thoroughly pink-ish impact.

Relieved, but knowing that now his offense was limited to a wild card move, he played it once more.

"Let's use another Metronome!"

This time…

Togepi dived forward in a sudden burst of speed that Ziri _knew _had to be hurting to Togepi as well; sure, the Skunk Pokemon was sent flipping over, but it popped up, significantly more angry than before- And its prey was still sitting upright, quite dazed.

Unbidden, his Pokedex began: "**Take Down, a-**"

Ziri snapped the lid shut.

He had no use of it now, having seen Urya use it far too many times, and shut his own eyes as Togepi, still dazed, now fell victim to a vengeful Night Slash.

_Two of my Pokemon downed today because of one stupid move,_ Ziri thought miserably to himself.

_Could it get any worse?_

Not really.

* * *

For the last five minutes or so, the man and his Luxray had observed Ziri fending off four Team Rocket grunts at a time- Even if they did happen to have a squad name.

The man was especially surprised in just how he seemed to control his Pokemon- It was that he took priority of his Pokemon's safety over just how much damage that he could inflict.

Over the eight years that he had been alone, travelling alone with only his Pokemon by his side, he had never seen such a trainer devoted to the safety of his Pokemon- And this was the boy who had the speed to knock both him and Luxray over in his wake?

But now, the man saw, with an affirming growl from Luxray, Ziri's desperate attempts to dodge a Skuntank's attacks. To be sure, they were inaccurate- But as they always said, if you keep firing bad shots one of them will hit. Eventually.

As the blond gloated over this victory, which technically wasn't one since he was superior to Ziri in experience and power anyway, the man slipped on the mask and the coat.

He was going to intervene, despite deep in his heart believing that to dodge an attack at all costs was not always the best way. If you can brave through an attack and faint your opponent, but instead dodge it and extend your time of torture for another ten minutes, then wouldn't the former be better?

But was going to rescue Ziri anyway, though he in reality didn't know his name.

Because with Team Rocket, any side was better than theirs.

He stepped out, just as they, attempting to make it even worse for Ziri the three that had stood back and watched sent forth their own Pokemon as he quickly recalled Togepi.

* * *

Now, Ziri was about to completely give up and just run for it on pure leg power, with Aipom having scampered in fright in front of the armada of Pokemon she was about to face.

At the very least she was hanging from his neck in a semi-chokehold with her tail- But he wasn't letting that aspect show…

And that was when _he _stepped out from behind a bush.

Ziri had never seen him before, but he could tell that in some way the Team Rocket members had, judging from the suddenly-terrified expressions on their faces. The four Pokemon they had out- A Spearow, the Skuntank, a rather _interesting _dog-like Pokemon with gray and black fur, and finally a Pokemon which Ziri recognized as a Koffing, judging from the mark on its front, being a crossbones and all- looked at them with confusion- And immediately got their own version of the picture when they saw Luxray. If an ability called Intimidation was any consideration…

To the humans on Team Rocket's side, it was partly the Luxray that made them instantly cower, but it was more the man than the Pokemon.

With their Pokemon it was just the Pokemon. Pretty ironic that each species present was frightened of itself…

Ziri shrank into the background as the man spoke, with an obvious smug tone behind the voice: "Well, well, what do we have here…?"

The blond guy, obviously the leader, opened his mouth immediately. "Do you think it's your business to mess with every Team Rocket operation-?"

"Oh, I didn't know that this was an operation," he cooed in a very mocking tone, "All I saw was you four attempting to extort the kid-"

Normally, Ziri would give a very snide comment about how calling him a kid was the rough equivalent of declaring himself an old geezer, but in this case he managed to hold his tongue. Barely.

"This kid got himself in trouble with us," the blond said angrily, "so stay out of our way, goddammit-"

"Everyone gets in your way, the last time I took liberty with my wanderings..." the man said snidely.

At this point, the heavyset guy broke in. "Actions speak louder than words, Koslov."

Immediately, the one with the two Machops and the Poochyena whacked him on the back of the head. "Why do you have to bust out the proverbs now!?"

"It's instinct, dang it-!"

Mr. Koslov, or whoever he might be, sighed and withdrew from within his cloak another Pokeball, and at that sight the argument instantly ground to a halt.

"If you guys want to let loose four Pokemon on me," he said loftily, "Then I _believe_ it's fair that I get at least one more…"

All of them instantly turned pale.

"_No_!" they yelled simultaneously.

"Spearow, Aerial Ace!"

"Skuntank, Flamethrower!"

"Poochyena, use Bite!"

"Koffing, hit them with Smog!"

Sure, the blindingly fast attack struck Luxray's side; but being an electric-type meant an obvious resistance to the flying-type move. The Flamethrower and Smog, Luxray simply jumped over, and when the outstretched jaws of the Bite Pokemon began to close in-

"Luxray, Superpower!"

In that instant, the Gleam Eyes Pokemon became bathed in an orange light, concentrated around his forelimbs; with that, one swipe of them sent the Poochyena flying away, already unconscious from the super effective attack. The Spearow turned around…

Only to have the same, but slightly worse treatment as it crashed into a tree and slid down, twitching weakly.

The man smirked, hidden behind his mask and coat, as he threw the Pokeball that he had had in his hand the entire time: "Scizor, fight on!"

The Pincer Pokemon appeared, hissing and brandishing its previously mentioned pincers. The marks on them, Ziri noticed, happened to be shaped like eyes- And instantly the two Pokemon that were left froze up as well.

Ziri mentally groaned.

Double Intimidation. A classic tactic he often faced, but that was with humans, unlike now.

In the meantime, Koslov ordered Scizor: "Finish them all off! Giga Impact!"

Ziri knew what Giga meant- It was the prefix for one billion, from what he knew as a side face in his precalculus class.

However, he had no idea what it meant here- But then he did, judging from the gold-colored barrier that suddenly formed around the charging Pincer Pokemon.

"Koffing, Selfdestruct!" the owner yelled in obvious desperation.

The Poison Gas Pokemon looked to be trying to breath in as much as possible as it began to glow- Just as Scizor was upon it, it suddenly, as the name of the move suggested, exploded.

The shock wave sent Ziri tumbling and violently cursing as he attempted stop himself- Not that Aipom was helping, since she was busy chattering in panic and grabbing his neck in a fresh chokehold.

The man mostly unruffled, save for behind forced to hunker down; when he looked up, he saw Scizor stagger to its feet from where it had been blasted through three trees, hissing in anger.

However, as for the Selfdestruct, the barrier that had formed between it and the Koffing had given it a layer of protection- Now all that was left was the Skuntank.

Well, no there wasn't.

At that moment, it became painfully obvious that not only had Koffing hit Scizor (Luxray was too far back, but had been buffeted with the shockwave), but also the explosion had smashed dead into Skuntank, only a few feet away.

Well, if the blackened for that covered one side of the Skunk Pokemon was any indicator…

It then proceeded to let out a sooty breath and topple over, joining Koffing on the ground where its eyes were revolving with circles and covered with blackened patches.

Ziri was bewildered- The trainer had ordered a kamikaze attack that even hit an ally?

Scizor looked visibly disappointed that it hadn't truly gotten to beat up anything- But then it remembered that there were still humans around.

Not that he could, because at that moment…

"Remember that Jonathan Almers of the Beta Squad will get you two!!" came the howl from the blond as he sent out what Ziri recognized as an Abra.

"Teleport us all out of here!"

The man only sighed as the fox-like Psi Pokemon was bathed in a light-purple aura- And proceeded to disappear, along with all the Pokemon and people belonging to Team Rocket.

"Oh, if only they were less intelligent and only ran away, then I'd no longer have to deal with them…"

Ziri picked himself off the ground, slightly scared of what would happen if he did.

He immediately regretted it, as Luxray turned and instantly gave him a death glare, having obviously not forgotten about the "overgrown lightning rod" comment from only minutes earlier, despite the confrontation only _seconds _before.

Instantly, as if there was a psychic bond between Pokemon and trainer, the man- Koslov- snapped his attention to Ziri.

"You must be the runner, aren't you…?"

The teen blinked, before he remembered that some thirty minutes ago, when he had a burst of blur-running right before he collapsed into the grass, that he'd run between two indistinct figures.

He hadn't looked back- In fact, the last time he looked back when he ran (Not blur-ran) had gotten his rib fractured. And with the kind of speed he had used, that kind of fracture becomes not just a break but ten breaks.

"Uh, yeah," he said with all the innocence that he could muster, "is something wrong?"

"Not really."

A short silence, which Ziri broke a few seconds later with the question, "And why the heck did you help me?"

"It's Team Rocket," the man said simply.

"Duh," Ziri said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, "anyone can see that- Literally. What else?"

"They're criminals."

"Moving on besides the fact that they wear black, they're evil, they're dumb, and they're criminals, _what else_?"

The man now surprised that he had asked such a penetrating question, but quickly pulled together a response. "They're guilty of an infinite number of crimes against Pokemon, and they all deserve to die."

Ziri had met his share of fanatics at school- Mainly Norman and his gang attempting to crush the life out of him at every opportunity. However, what disturbed him more was right before the last clause of the sentence.

Why had he only mentioned Pokemon, not people as well? Team Rocket didn't _just _inflict damage on one species…

He decided to pretend that he had not notice this curious bit of words, and simply nodded. "Uh, that's all fine…"

"So then" Koslov said in a new business-like tone, "What were they after _you _for?"

"Uh, mostly my mistake," Ziri said sheepishly. "I left my Quilava out here, and then they stumbled on it and were talking about stealing it, so then I returned him and pissed them off to hell…"

His voice trailed off, and his counterpart instantly got the gist of what had happened after that.

"Oh, and by the way, what's your name and who exactly are you? I've never heard of Team Rocket being actually scared of anyone at first sight…"

The man considered curtly saying no to this question- But what was the harm? As long as he didn't show his face…

"My name," he said, "is Demetri Koslov, and I'm what you can call a vigilante."

_Obviously, if you want to kill the people the police want to catch,_ Ziri thought, but he once again held his tongue.

"I've told you mine," the man- No, Demetri- said calmly, "Now you tell me yours."

Ziri didn't miss a beat.

"The name's Zirienji Axlhedron, but I prefer Ziri."

Then he blinked, realizing that Demetri had already began walking again.

"Wait a sec, geez!"

He quickly caught up, much to Luxray's displeasure, and Demetri looked at him in mild irritation. "What?" came the annoyed response.

"Where the heck are you going?" Ziri grumbled. Then, he remembered that place in Violet City that looked as if a bomb had gone off there.

"Oh, and did you cause that disaster site back in Violet City?"

Demetri gave him a hard look, secretly tensing inside. "What of it?"

"Why did you blow it up, if you did?"

For a second or two he simply walked, forcing Ziri to walk in front of him and face him. "Seriously, you think I'll rat you out or something, geez…"

Demetri made the decision.

"Just to get you to shut it, it was a Team Rocket hideout that I destroyed."

In one sentence, he told Ziri three things.

One: This guy was hardcore.

Two: This guy was very loose in keeping what he did a secret.

Three: He seriously hated talking with people.

_This isn't going to end well…_

* * *

Back at the Pokemon Center, an hour later. Disparagingly said, "meanwhile…"

Hannah remembered the speed that had gotten him into trouble with Alex all the way back in Cherrygrove City.

_It's convenient- But it's trouble_.

She didn't know yet how true that mental statement was and just how much the possessor would have enthusiastically agreed at the very moment.

"So, anyway," she said loudly, "Do we have to wait until tomorrow to go?"

"Well, yeah," Gale sighed, "You obviously have to get your Pokemon healed, this chick has to get hers-"

"There's only one," came the snarl, and their attention was instantly diverted to her.

She lifted her head off the table, knowing full well that they all had their ears and eyes trained on her, and said loudly "I think the moment Shadow's healed, I'm going to have a little rematch with that bastard…"

If Ziri had been listening to them now, he would have, simply put, gone berserk and thrashed her within an inch of her life, for that was the very same insult that had put him into a similar enraged state in his hometown. Some hometown New Bark Town was to him now, since he'd vowed to never come back...

"I don't think you'll be able to catch up with him." Hannah immediately retorted- She did _not _like this obviously holier-than-thou attitude that she seemed to be extruding, though it was mostly from the rage that she felt.

"Says who?" Zailia said loftily. "You think that just because I'm a girl, I can't run as fast as a boy-?"

"It's not that," Alex broke in, having sat with them since Gale, Urya, and Zailia had come in and listened to what had happened, "It's just that… This… Uh, boy you're talking about can run fast enough to make this crazy shockwave behind him. How're you going to catch up to him at that speed? I mean, I think you've seen it for yourself, I guess…"

She was at a loss of words to respond to that meekly-put fact, when they all heard a howl. A very chilling, and to Gale, far too familiar howl, though it had been days…

Gale did not like the sound of that howl, simply put.

"Oh crap," he muttered, and he dashed out, a very confused and freshly-woken-up following Urya behind, asking "What's going on-?"

None of the people inside liked it either- Especially Alex, who felt a tingle of familiarity, despite not _exactly _hearing that howl. It was just a sense- And unfortunately it was correct.

Outside, they found a mob of people screaming, and a large number of policemen- And police women, to note one Officer Jenny- all with an assortment of Pokemon against one, very angry-looking…

With a sinking feeling, both Gale and Alex realized what they were seeing in the light of the three o'clock sun of the afternoon.

It was a Houndoom. Not just any Houndoom. It was the same Houndoom that had been escaped from, time and time again, but Ziri and co. And now, there was nowhere save inside the Pokemon Center to run to, and no Metronome-wielding Togepi to get them out of there.

One police officer, a rather brazen one, called "Furret, Iron Tail!"

Zailia, to whom the gang still did not know the name to, muttered under her breath "Idiot…"

The reason?

The Long Tail Pokemon bounded forward, tail glowing, when the Houndoom simply opened his mouth and spat out a spray of flames in what everyone recognized as an Ember attack- And what the Furret got the worst of. As it the glow of the tail faded via broken concentration, the Houndoom gleefully bounded forward- And did what Zailia recognized as a Fire Fang, judging from the sudden spurt of flames from the exposed teeth.

The Furret dropped to the ground limp from both force that the jaws had clamped down upon it and from the burn that had formed- The Darkness Pokemon then looked around, eager for another challenger.

"Uh oh," Gale muttered, then made his decision.

He stepped forward, and threw up Houndour's Pokeball.

"Houndour, I choose you!"

The Dark Pokemon appeared, snarling at his evolved counterpart; said counterpart drew back in surprise, before he then walked forward, an evil gleam in its eye.

"_I finally get my revenge,_" it growled softly. "_After that fiasco in the forest, I tracked you all the way here…_"

"_Says who?_" Houndour challenged. "_We beat you once, and we can do it again!_"

It's eyes narrowed, before it continued. "_Now, where's that other pipsqueak that caused me so much trouble…?_"

"_He left because you were beneath him, fool!_"

That remark Houndour had made up, but it had the desired effect: The Houndoom immediately bounded forward in a vengeful howl, its mouth flaming in preparation to perform a Fire Fang-

Gale knew that more than likely that this Houndoom had Flash Fire as its ability as well- But he simply decided to yell, instead of dodging, "Bite!"

Although the crowd that had gathered gasped…

The flames that _should _have scorched Houndour simply wrapped themselves around him, though the fangs produced some mild discomfort- In the meantime, the Dark Pokemon took liberty of his position and, dangling from the jaws of his evolved form, clamped his jaws around its leg.

The Houndoom, in its surprise from both the fact that this thing was fighting back and the fact that it actually _hurt_, flinched, dropping its pre-evolved form in the process. Houndour fell right underneath it, which Gale instantly saw the opening for-

"Use Roar!"

Before the Dark Pokemon could react, the _other_, smaller one beneath it let loose a massive burst of sound that sent it flying- Right up, until it went down, only to crash into the ground in a plume of dust.

Not that it would stay down, from Alex's experience- And she was right.

It got up, significantly battered- And significantly angered.

"Crud," Alex groaned, "This thing has a temper…"

"Thank you, Miss Obvious," Zailia said offhandedly as she continued to observe quite calmly.

* * *

**And that's that- If anyone thinks their OC is being misrepresented, then give me a shout, with the gigantic review button on the bottom of the page, people!**

**On the subject of reviews- Remember to do just that! Please!! With a free laptop for doing so!!!**


	22. Biten and manhandled

**This week sucked. **

**That's all I can say for the grades that I bungled up, but no, it wasn't from concentrating on writing this story. It was from mainly my own inadequacy that I screwed up so bad, so I'm beating myself up right now. At the very least this is one bright spot I have in my life...**

**Oh, and to those... **

**WHO READ AND FAVORITE BUT DON'T REVIEW!! Can't you spare five minutes to write two, three, maybe one sentence? Seriously... **

**Oh well- The following chapter/content is not in anyway owned and/or sponsored by Nintendo. YOU CANNOT SUE ME NOW.**

**Happy Reading!! **

* * *

Jonathan Almers was not usually the type to go berserk in anger.

However, this was more than a good reason- The Beta Squad, which he had led since replacing the former head after an _unfortunate _bungle-up, had been toyed around with a boy with a sick Pokemon, a baby one, and a timid one.

And _then _there was the fact that Zirienji Axlhedron had an incredibly potential to annoy people, so add that to the list.

Also, add the fact that Demetri Koslov had intervened and thrashed them with ease; of course, every Team Rocket unit that had ever met him had been thrashed, so no surprise there. Koslov had been giving Team Rocket, and some other criminal organizations living hell for years now- Eight at the last count. In that space of time he'd created a nearly invincible team of Pokemon that had partially revealed itself today.

There were no survivors of his attacks- Mostly. He killed all the people that he wanted to and all the people who stood in his way- The Pokemon were mercifully spared.

They did not, however, offer an image to exactly what his team was, but witnesses who survived- Barely- Testified to the constant presence of a Luxray.

That was pretty much it- Oh, and there was another Tyranitar as well, and a Gardevior.

But today, they just discovered a Scizor on the team.

However, that was not on Jonathan's mind right now; no, it was busy on ranting about the total unfairness and unluckiness that they'd encountered.

"I can't _believe _that sonofabitch got away with that Quilava, even if the thing was sick and crap-"

"It _was_," the heavyset one interjected fearfully.

"SO?" he yelled, "What difference would it make? You guys know how damn rare Quilavas are, and how much they cost- It would have gotten our ratings up. But _no_, we have run into HIM!"

The rating they were talking about? It was a scale that… _Customers_ used to rate the "prizes" that were given up for sale. Quote-on-quote.

It was used by only Team Rocket- That's why nobody save those inside the insidious organization knew about it. Anyway, on the matter of ratings: "We've already been downgraded for being duped by the stupid Squirtle incident, and the Boss hasn't given us any _real _assignments since that disaster, dammit!"

The incident he was talking about was where a Squirtle was left in the middle of nowhere, and the Beta Squad took the bait and brought it to a Team Rocket hideout, for shipment.

The only problem was, the Squirtle had been set up intentionally. And there was a tracker inside the shell, so that within three hours a host of policemen and women arrived and promptly freed everything up for shipment to the central command and sale node, all the way in Kanto, Team Rocket's home base.

Thankfully, it was a small hideout- But all four of them had received a massive chew-out by first Athena, and then Lambda for their utter and total stupidity in not checking what might be on a Squirtle- If something has a shell, then you can put things into it, nine times out of ten.

Right after that, Jonathan had been called in to replace the former boss, who resigned out of shame.

So, for four months now they'd been trying to find their own Pokemon to sell, steal, or ransom and not actually give the thing back- With little success, save for a lucky snag of an Octillery. Even that hadn't truly ended well, though- The buyer returned it, demanding a full refund, but then again, the Beta Squad managed to counterfeit half the money and return that and half of the selling price, which was steep to begin with- So they had truly and excellently made a profit, unless you counted the fact that they kept silent about the whole incident, in order to prevent yet another chewing-out by the Rocket Admins for ruining their reputation.

So here they were, fuming about the fact that an excellent prize had slipped through their fingers; finally, Jonathan began to cool down. "I think we need to get that thing back," he grumbled, and everyone looked at him.

"You're not planning to make us another Jessie and James, are you?" the heavyset man began asking, but immediately he was silenced with a dirty look.

"You _think _that I want us to look like those two buffoons, Jackson?"

Everyone in Team Rocket knew the pair and their talking Meowth- And their long string of failures, just for catching one stupid Pikachu. Pikachu didn't even fetch much on the market, anyway- When they attempted to explain, all they could say was that this Pikachu was ridiculously strong and the boss would love to get his hands on a super-Pokemon like that.

One problem- They couldn't.

"We just need a plan to separate those two," Jonathan mumbled, attempting to cool his head, "Just separate those two and we can nab that stupid Quilava… We're no chance against that guy, but that kid alone, it'll be a piece of cake…"

"_How _are we gonna do that?"

He looked at the owner of the two Machops, literally brothers from the day of birth; "It's simple, Hugh. They're bound to be going through Union Cave next, so…"

Everyone there stared at him, until the rough equivalent of a light bulb blinked to life.

Metaphorically, of course, but…

"We're going to trap them in there?"

"Obviously."

* * *

Ziri, three miles away, was now walking alongside the man that was being despised by said Beta Squad- And now asking him about the general geography of the route they were going down (Route 31).

"Azalea Town's next, right…?"

He was forced to wait a few seconds, but in the end his patience was rewarded- "We're heading towards Union Cave."

Ziri blinked. "Union Cave? Not Azalea Town?"

Demetri rolled his eyes. "Do you have a Pokegear or not?"

Ziri instantly got the gist of what he was saying.

_Check the map, you fool_.

He complied, grudgingly, and realized to his horror that the cave- Union Cave- lay between Azalea Town and here.

Ziri now swore violently. "Dammit, how the hell am I supposed to cure Quilava now-?"

Demetri turned to him sharply. "You said that you had a Quilava, and that was the one that they were after?"

"Um, yeah… Crap, I gotta check up on him…"

With that, Ziri stopped, dropped his backpack to the ground (And Aipom along with it, since he'd never bothered returning her to her Pokeball) and called Quilava out.

Demetri's eyes narrowed at the patch of sickly green on the Volcano Pokemon's side- But was surprised at Ziri slowly stroking and scratching one of the ears on its head, prompting it to weakly raise its head and offer a pained greeting groan.

"Does it hurt?" he asked softly, and there was a pained nod.

Quickly he rummaged through his backpack for a certain berry, while the man stopped, looking at him in exasperation; what did he think he was, a doctor-?

Well, sort of.

But first, as if Ziri wanted to scare Demetri (Technically, he unconsciously did) he pulled out a certain, red-tinted orb of fruit.

The man instantly paled behind the mask- That was a Tamato berry, one of the hottest ones in existence.

"What do you think you're doing-"

If there was one thing that Ziri would put over everything else, it was his Pokemon, and though he was quite certain that Luxray would happily rip off his head if ordered to, he didn't hesitate:

"Shut up."

With that, he left the two together standing in shock while he prepared for his hand to burn in hell.

It did.

He winced as a burning sensation spread across the skin of his hand as he squeezed; Luxray looked like he wanted to kill Ziri just for saying two words, but his attempts at murder were stopped when he tried to spring- In lowering his head he made his eyes a sitting duck for a stray stream of liquid that blasted into his eyes- Hot liquid, to be sure, and now Luxray flailed wildly around in agony.

For his part, Demetri was about to viciously retort when he realized that the juice was actually being dripped onto a wound, and he knew that Tamato berries, for all their spiciness, were potent antibiotic-holding berries- One of the best, actually, and it was only natural Ziri was using them.

Quilava would be thrashing around, if it hadn't been for the fact that Aipom, at a silent and pained nod from Ziri, been holding him down as the antibiotic was behind.

"_Sorry, this is for your own good_," she mumbled, as Quilava gave her a dirty look, before it was replaced by one of further agony.

Though it did make Ziri guilty to make his best friend go through more pain, he assuaged it by thinking of how worse it would be if he _didn't _do this.

Death, anyone?

He stood up again, and took out a second one- By now, the nerves around the wound were all numbed, so the Volcano Pokemon simply lay there as a second bit of juice was applied via direct dripping.

When he'd finished with the third, Quilava for some reason was breathing slightly easier- Which was an obvious indication that the antibodies were doing their work quite well. Ziri sighed, and brushed the last of the liquid off his hands, and turned to Demetri- Only to realize Luxray was no longer there. "Where'd that cat of your go?" Ziri asked meekly, knowing for sure that said cat would mutilate him if he got half a chance…

"In," he said simply, "Since he accidently got an eyeful of some of the Tamato berry juice, which you launched by accident for sure. Though I can't let him out around you anymore for a while now, since his level of hatred for you just got bumped up-"

"To diabolical?"

"Yes."

Ziri turned slightly pale at this, but he returned Quilava and began walking with the man again south.

* * *

An hour later, Ziri realized that there were bright lights ahead. "What's going on there?" he asked, pointing.

They would have gotten there sooner, had Ziri hadn't been forced to walk alongside Demetri in total silence. No running allowed, obviously, but it was noted somewhere in Ziri's mind that this was mandatory, if he didn't want to get jumped by stray trainers- Luckily, there were none…

"That," Demetri said, after a second, "Is the Pokemon Center that somehow was built there, only a bit away from Union Cave. By the way…"

He scrutinized Ziri for a second before, aloud, he asked "When did you leave Violet City, and how did you Quilava get sick like that?"

Ziri couldn't help but wince, partly at the memory, but where he was now- And the people that he'd left behind, so he just said "Today."

Demetri turned and looked at him, the surprise showing even the mask: "_What_?"

His eyes stared into Ziri's steel gray ones, and realized that what his younger counterpart was saying it truly, with no trace or hint of untruth in them. Deciding to accept this- And wondering if that fact, whether it was true or not, had something to do with that crazy speed that had created this meeting between them- he then asked, "What got your Quilava sick? Violet City has a Pokemon Center, so it couldn't have gotten sick _there_, and you're the exact opposite of a trainer who would _let _their Pokemon get sick, even though you tick people off way too easily…"

Ziri couldn't tell if it was a complement or not, but he decided to accept it as the former. "I met this weird chick with some kind of massive hat and an Absol-" Demetri started at this "and then she was all ticked about something yesterday."

Demetri was now feeling a foreboding feeling of guilt, but he- For now- Assuaged it with the reasoning that anyone can have a crappy yesterday…

"So then, my Quilava… Actually, Cyndaquil before and Quilava after, since it evolved in the middle of the battle-" Demetri gave another, smaller start at this "had his side slashed open by one of those Night Slash attacks."

Absols were notorious for their tendency for ripping into things- Deep. And if it was a Night Slash, perhaps one of the nastiest dark-type moves around…

"Right after that, Blaze activated, and I _thought _I could win, but one problem- It accelerated the bleeding. If you went back there, you won't _believe _the amount of blood there."

"And that's when he evolved, the wound mostly closed up, and we won, but whoever weakened her Absol yesterday, that person I'm going to alternatively smash their head into a wall and grind it till it's a paste, or fall on my knees and kiss their feet."

Demetri was now perfectly sure that was him, and didn't like either option.

Particularly the second.

_Could _this boy, who looked ten years younger than his twenty-four, do it? It wasn't likely, but at that moment Demetri noticed that his arms happened to be extremely well sculptured- And if he could run that fast, the speed that had set off this crazy chain of events, then couldn't he do the same with his feet…?

He _almost _shuddered at the thought, but decided to say nothing.

At that point, the two had reached the Pokemon Center- And now Ziri rushed in, while Demetri hung back, knowing that there was a rather heavy bounty on his head.

He didn't understand why, if he was doing it for the common good in the end- After all, the end justified the means- But it was there, and he wasn't exactly inclined to march into the town hall of _anywhere_, and loudly protest, since he'd be apprehended anyway before he came within ten feet of the doors.

But that was only with the mask on, which was why he navigated the routes of whatever region he was in with nothing to signify that he was Demetri Koslov. Unless he gave his name, of course, and that would totally ruin it.

But there was a hitch.

It was not his real one.

* * *

At this point, it was the exact same instant that the Houndoom had been rather viciously dropped onto the ground, via a perfectly-aimed upward Roar.

As it got up, snarling, Gale, taking note of the flames that flickered around Houndour, courtesy of both the opponent's Fire Fang and Flash Fire on the Dark Pokemon's part, and decided to gamble on a fire-type attack- Besides, if this particular Houndoom had Flash Fire as well, then it would simply produce a feedback loop with no end as the two exchanged fire-type moves…

So: "Houndour, Ember!"

So came the stream of boosted-in-size fireballs- They flew, boosted in speed as well…

And sent the larger, evolved Dark Pokemon sprawling, yelping in what was obviously pain as it skidded across the ground.

Gale sighed in relief- His gambit had paid off, for this particular Houndoom didn't have Flash Fire as its ability, but rather…

Alex, in checking her own Pokedex, with Synthia looking over her shoulder hawkishly, was greeted with the following knowledge:

Gender: Male

Nature: Hardy

Ability: Early Bird

That was the clincher. Since it didn't have Flash Fire, this made it all the more obvious prey for fire-type moves, even if they didn't really hurt that much…

"_You're going to pay for that, runt,_" the Houndoom snarled as he jumped to its feet.

"_Make me!_"

"_Oh, this WILL_!"

With that, the Dark Pokemon raised its head to the sky and let out a long, wailing howl to the sky, something that chilled everyone that watched- Which was half the city- And then some, and then bounded forward…

The fangs this time cackling with electricity. And for some reason it became faster as well…

Gale's eyes widened. "Houndour, keep it away! Roar!"

Houndour complied- But it didn't work, mainly because this time his evolved form stopped and countered with his _own _Roar. The two bursts of air, the Houndoom's being somewhat stronger, created a cataclysm that knocked down half the crowd and sent both combatants flying; both immediately popped up, snarling…

With one difference- The Houndoom popped up, and proceeded to chomp down on Houndour's neck.

With a still cackling set of jaws.

Houndour yowled, thrashing to break free, but Gale instantly realized that his limbs were seizing up, courtesy of the electricity coursing through his system; Alex was greeted with the explanation of: "**Thunder Fang, an electric-type move. The user bites the foe viciously with fangs that course with electricity, which may stun the foe in paralysis.**"

Alex paled.

Synthia, behind her, sighed and calmly pulled out a Pokeball- Which burst open to reveal her Meowth.

"Meowth, Pay Day!"

Bounding through the crowd, which, the Scratch Cat Pokemon then crossed his arms, the coin on his forehead glowing- The Dark Pokemon, busy shaking around his smaller counterpart in his jaws, looked up, dropping his prior victim, and with thoughts of carnage in his mind bounded forward, intending this time to perform a Fire Fang-

And that's when a rain of circular, disc-like objects that glittered in the sunlight flew from literally nowhere, or in this case from coin on Meowth's forehead. Bashed in the face by the barrage, the Houndoom stumbled backwards-

Houndour, not about to let his prior injuries get in the way of some sort of revenge, managed to make a botched jump forward and clamp down on its leg in a Bite attack. The Houndoom let loose a howl of pain skywards, and began to retreat, all the while thrashing its right hind leg in an attempt to get his pre-evolved form off…

Alex wasn't about to let this thing go; "Light, Quick Attack!"

The impact surprised the Dark Pokemon more than it actually hurt it, but all the same it made the Houndoom topple over. Synthia, deciding to take advantage of this, shouted "Meowth, use Fury Swipes!"

The same place of abuse that had been unwittingly picked by the Houndoom itself- Its snout- Was now subject to more abuse, this time with significantly sharper instruments.

The Houndoom howled, this time in pain, as it wildly thrashed around, trying to get these flies off itself; Alex now shouted, as it opened its jaws to perform of Fire Fang as the Scratch Cat's tail danced in front-

"Light, use Swift!"

Although it wouldn't have hurt too much, since Houndooms preferred enduring bursts of energy to getting beaten up violently with physical objects, the Eevee struck a sensitive spot- As in, the already sore nose.

Every single, yellow star.

With a yowl, the Dark Pokemon scooted backwards, tail between its legs in obvious retreat-

_Bop_.

With that, the surprised expression on its face was instantly replaced by red light, which then disappeared into the sphere that had smacked into it and proceeded to clamp itself shut.

Everyone was stunned, as it began rattling, the red light around the button flashing.

In the chaos, she had pulled out a certain red-and-white sphere and perfectly timed a throw that landed dead on its side, which now entrapped the Houndoom.

Had it not been suffering from a massive amount of pain from the dead-on-the-nose hit, it would have broken free- But it had, and on the fourth round of what appeared to be desperate shaking it finally stopped, the red blinking button becoming red once again.

Alex was first to find her voice, as the crowd gave a collective sigh of relief and the local police bounded towards Gale and Synthia to offer their mass congratulations.

"Y-you caught it? But… Who _are _you, anyway-?"

Zailia gave her a withering look. "My name, which none of you have asked for until now, is Zailia Kage. And of course I caught it. Will you look at _these_?"

With that, she pulled out the same badge case that she had shown Ziri and proceeded to open it up.

Alex, being a Kanto native, instantly recognized all eight badges, and her eyes widened. "You've won all eight? But how come I never heard about you-"

Before Zailia could give forth a scathing response, a truck, from the entrance that that the Houndoom had previous gone through, roared into the streets.

No, it did not smash through the guardhouse. That was only for walking travelers, but for machinery and such they took a second road.

The Houndoom, in his desire for revenge, had taken that way- And ended up caught.

Alex instantly ran over, wondering _exactly _if it was the thing she'd been waiting for all day…

Meanwhile, Zailia was thoughtfully looking at her newly caught Pokemon- Which happened to be a dark-type, conveniently.

"Wonder what I'll name him…"

* * *

Ziri came out, his expression grim.

"I can't leave until tomorrow morning, dammit," he groaned. "That crazy bitch…"

Which was obviously in mention of Zailia, but Demetri couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. But, just to change the subject before the boy noticed anything: "You're very foul-mouthed, to a fault."

Ziri gave him a withering look. "Please. Don't become my mother on this one, okay? I'm pissed, I have you for company, and I have two people- Maybe three, counting that really stupid Team Rocket honcho- who want to kill me and it's been a week plus since I started out from New Bark Town. Do you think I'd care at this point for something like that?"

Demetri had to admit grudgingly that obviously he wouldn't at this point, but when he said it out loud he didn't let the _grudgingly _part come out.

"Then why did you ask? Oh, and you do know I refer to your Luxray as a person, you know…"

Demetri now thought that Ziri was an oddity, and said so.

* * *

The technician who had arrived with the truck was a young, somewhat thirty-ish man that immediately jumped out. "Where's Alessandra… Cessy? Cesari? Blah blah blah…?"

Alex stood there, shocked at the absolute butchering of her last name.

Francesco charged out, oblivious to the empty-minded shock of the person in front of him- Well, now behind him. "Oh, Doctor Kinard, you're here today-"

She abruptly shoved him out of the way, so his face landed in the dirt, and stalked up to the only-mildly surprised guy.

"What. Did. You call. Me."

"Um… Something that obviously you don't want to be called by?"

She looked like she could kill him- And to be on the same level that Ziri often put her on, that was quite an achievement.

But at that point, the truck driver popped out, and went to the back, calling "How do you want the stuff unloaded…?"

"Just cart it off to the Center," the doctor called out, which was obviously in reference to the Pokemon Center.

Alex instantly deflated. "Uh, do you need help…?"

"Well, it'll take twenty minutes max for one guy back and forth… But with you and that kid" he nodded towards the dizzy and dirty Francesco "it'll be cut down to a good fifteen…"

She nodded, but made sure that he was subject to dirty looks the entire time as she and Francesco joined the burly driver in taking the stuff to the Pokemon Center.

* * *

Ziri hated waking up Sunday mornings.

If anything, he hated, hated, hated being forced to wake up on that exact day, for years. He _would _wake up at six in the morning, normally, but on Sundays…

He'd wake up at six thirty and scream about losing thirty minutes of valuable warm-up time- And that's what he did, after he marched out of the Pokemon Center past a very surprised- And frightened- Nurse Joy, swearing violently.

Quilava wasn't with him, but obviously he was recovering from the operation that had been done on him. They'd finished last night, and told him that whatever he'd put on the wound- Tamato berry juice- had given them some breathing room in removing the infected pus that he been secreted.

But, he'd need all night to rest, and maybe some time in the morning…

So all night was done- Now Ziri looked, finished ranting about his crappy sleeping time, at the rising sun.

August was in full swing- But now the dog days of summer was approaching, and the air was becoming muggy in the dim slowly brightening light. Ziri realized with a small sense of nostalgia- Which he instantly stomped, crushed, mashed, ground, and burnt away- That, if he had stayed in New Bark Town, that two weeks from tomorrow he'd begin tenth grade.

But, just like the feeling that he had felt when he began thinking about this, he quashed it.

He was gone forever. And promises were promises.

He checked his Pokegear, and groaned. 6:40 A.M.

He let loose both Pokemon that _weren't _sick, and told them "Beat yourselves up- Please?"

They instantly jumped up and down. And the Long Tail Pokemon turned to the Spike Ball Pokemon with a large grin on her face, while Togepi just chirped as it waggled its fingers in what was obviously the beginnings of a Metronome.

And in the meantime, Ziri rushed off to look for berries…

* * *

Demetri, unnoticed by Ziri, was busy sleeping a half-mile off.

Being a wanted man and all had its, in addition to the general image of being a badass, disadvantages- Namely, the look instantly gives you away, if not the name, or maybe the voice. In Demetri's case, the first two gave the "dead ringer" alarm bell in people's heads a reason for ringing, and the voice, he wasn't going to risk later identification. He still needed _some _places to be safe…

So, he'd selected a soft spot under a tree, and, after making sure that no wild Pokemon that could possibly bite off his head in his slumber for a quick midnight snack, slept for a good nine hours. Much in contrast to his younger, reluctant companion, who only slept six…

Ziri passed right by him on his hunt for fruit, and did not notice the form laying in the rapidly-sharpening shade- But he was woken up anyway when a Seedot, having dreams that were rather rollicky, crashed on his forehead.

It was still nine hours- But it gave him a concussion coming out of sleep.

He finished quietly but violently swearing- Once- After his thrashing had gotten the Seedot that had conked him on the forehead flying into the tree that it had hung from, where it now lay at the base of said tree, eyes going in circles.

Luxray popped out, intending to send it flying _through _the tree, but Demetri, with a warning look despite the blood running down his forehead, stopped him from genocide of all the _other _Seedots on the tree as well.

With a sigh, he got up. "I'm going to have that boy- Ziri- Get me some food, then…"

At that moment, Ziri rushed back, and skidded to a stop, his backpack once again bulging with berries; "The hell happened to you-" he began, when he realized Luxray was out.

And was staring at him with the evil eye.

He instantly froze, ready to blur-run away to relative safety when the owner, still bloodstained on the forehead, surprised the Gleam Eyes Pokemon, immediately returned him.

Ziri let out a breath that he had been unconsciously holding, and managed to mumble "Thanks…"

"Can you repay me by getting me some food?" Demetri said, business-like, and walked off to the Pokemon Center while Ziri stood there for a few seconds before he followed, fuming somewhat.

Did this guy have any manners? Even Ziri had some sense of them…

* * *

The Beta Squad did not a have a good sleep the previous night; no, they spent it all night by planting explosives all throughout Union Cave. Well, in the first half, but there were a few scattered throughout the other half, on the Azalea Town side.

They had gone there the easy way- They, first with Jonathan's Abra, teleported to the hideout in Violet City- No, not to the members gathering place that Demetri had so taken liberty in blowing up, but the storehouse.

It, having a copious amount of explosives within, was untouched by the masked man's assaults- Otherwise, there would have been a _very _big bang. The fact that it had avoided destruction was more attributed to the fact that it was a mile away, but since it was underground anyway…

They had Teleported in and proceeded to get as many as they could, before Teleporting back to the entrance of Union Cave and walked in, despite most of their Pokemon being relatively weak- Union Cave was infamous for the number of Zubat that lurked within.

And then there were always the Onix that resided inside as well, the gigantic Rock Snake Pokemon taking liberty with their actions that involved whatever strayed in front of them…

But, they still (With some luck, as it was still daytime when they set up the explosives) managed to get in and get out- Three times, before they were satisfied that tomorrow, when Demetri Koslov and the boy that traveled with him entered the cave, which they planned to be around nine, they would be instantly assaulted by the sounds of explosives- And, as a bonus, rocks raining down…

* * *

Ziri did _not _want to get two plates of food and rush outside. No matter what Demetri did in an attempt to persuade him to do him a service, Ziri was adamant.

"Why the hell are you so scared? If people only know you through the mask…"

His voice at that point trailed off suggestively, and Demetri immediately felt stung by the sarcastic nature of his voice, and retorted, "You think it's that simple-!?"

He had meant to follow up the comment, but he never got the chance, for Ziri immediately seized that chance. "Oh yeah? Then what's _not _simple about walking into the Pokemon Center without that mask?"

The man was not used to being on the defensive in an argument, so he was the victim of intense sputtering for a few seconds before he found his voice. "It's- It's the voice! Sooner or later the authorities-"

"What," Ziri snorted in disbelief, "You're actually scared of them?"

"-are going to figure out that I've been _here,_" he plowed on, "and when they take witnesses they'll have who I look like without this mask on-" He had, right before Ziri came around, put on the mask but not before the blood had dribbled down to the lower part of his face where his coat, on the ground as a pillow, was not there to cloak it "-and they might even get a description of my voice!"

Ziri looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? That's all you're scared of? I can fix that in ten seconds."

Demetri stared at him, somewhat stunned and cooled down from earlier. "Really."

"Really. It all depends on how you feel about being on my shoulder and your acting skills."

* * *

This was, ten minutes later, after much pouting, angry and rude gesturing and protesting, and finally reluctant cooperation:

Ziri walked in, got a plate from the cafeteria, and sat down, innocently enough.

Then, one minute later…

Demetri, head wrapped in his red coat to make it made a kind of turban so it (1) hid his face and (2) muffled his voice in case he tried to speak, lurched in, and promptly fell over.

At once there was a commotion- As exactly Ziri had planned.

As everyone gathered around in a rather rushed fashion. Ziri got up sauntered over. "What happened?" he asked innocently.

"This guy just staggered in," came the harried assessment of one man in the rather thin crowd of fifteen- This was in the middle of nowhere, anyway- "And then he fell over and he's been twitching and stuff…"

Ziri couldn't help but thank whatever deities above had given this guy awesome acting skills. Silently.

"Moving through," he said loudly, then in an even louder voice, once he'd gotten besides Demetri, "What the heck is up with you?"

As per the plan, Demetri on the ground, though it was totally humiliating in his mind, began to rub his stomach and jab his fingers towards the cafeteria.

"Oh, he's hungry."

And with that came the most humiliating part of all- Ziri grabbed him and slung him over his shoulder in fireman's carry, and marched to the hot bar. "Can you guys _please _get this guy… Uh, whatever you have?"

Immediately, and in fright, the cooks obliged, and Ziri had no trouble carrying both Demetri and the extra plate before he set down the larger man in a chair and sat opposite from him, by his own plate.

"What do you think?" Ziri hissed in an undertone, pretending to eat his bacon.

"I'm going to murder you," came the hiss from underneath the layers of the coat, as he loosened the lower part of his face in order to drink the soup that had been hastily slopped in.

"Well," Ziri said jauntily, "At least you didn't have your face seen, did you…? And what _is _under that mask anyway?"

Through the folds of his bundled-around-his-head coat, Demetri gave him a glare. "None of your business, now shut up."

He certainly wanted to kill Ziri, but knowing how he'd been manhandled (According to plan), he wasn't sure if trying to dive across the table at him was the best choice…

* * *

That morning, about thirty miles north of there, Hannah woke up, ready to see if Ziri's stupidity would land him on the floor, in befuddlement and with blood trickling from the jaw- But then she realized, quite painfully, that he'd run off to who-knew-where.

Everyone was already up and about- And when she came downstairs, she realized with shock that the Houndoom that Zailia had caught only yesterday was quietly observing everyone in the lobby, only breaking his vigil to snarl at (1) Alex and (2) Gale whenever they came too close, and to a lesser extent (3) Synthia. Zailia was only stroking his back and softly cooing to the Dark Pokemon, which he seemed to appreciate…

Urya didn't even notice- Well, he wasn't there, but _everyone _could see him chowing down his food like his life depended on it. "What did you do this morning?" she asked, as she passed by his table.

"I jusht vanth… To catsh uf toh Zirih… Blargh!"

That was Ragnarok bopping the back of his head in order to stop him from talking with his mouth open. Which didn't serve the purpose very well, since most of the half-chewed food fell out of his mouth and onto the table…

Disgusted, Hannah shook her head and kept going.

Meanwhile, Alex was attempting to quiz the good doctor. "How does this new system improve on the old one?"

"For one, there's less glitches, and there's less chance of tampering," came the grumble as he performed some last checks on it. "I've heard about way too many shams when it comes to the old one, where someone sends their Pokemon through it and then they realize that they can't retrieve it…"

"Oh, so how would this one _do _it-?" Alex asked breathlessly.

Doctor Kinard gave her a weird look. "You _really _want me to explain? Have you taken quantum physics?"

The girl's face flushed. "Um…"

"Then quit asking questions that have answers you can't understand."

* * *

There was another reason for the upfront grumpiness in general.

The doctor, in the installation of the new system, had taken liberty and installed his own little gadget.

This was obviously not part of the plan. It was not even _supposed _to be on the machine.

For one thing, this was made by the man himself. The other thing was that the gadget of sorts of designed to track Pokemon, not transport them or to even assist in that function.

In this case, this was designed to track a certain Pokemon. One with wings, a gold crest atop its head, and with the ability to spread a rainbow behind its wings…

The doctor, who was in reality not a doctor, but someone who had commandeered the repair job just so that he could perform this bit of hijacking, in the home region of said Pokemon, watched as the nine o'clock sun, now high in the sky, beat down on the odd group of travelers as they walked out- Well, not including that boy who he had met some time before this. Oh, no. He was no waiting for some way to go back to Professor Elm, as his current errand, delivering the egg to Ziri, was finished.

The fake doctor did not know that contents of the errand, and didn't want to. His job here, anyway, was done.

* * *

Far to the south, it was ten o'clock, one hour later- And Ziri was busy testing the extent of Quilava's recovery.

For one thing, Ziri could tell, the wound was all but gone from view- But it was still there, judging from the wincing Quilava went into every time the Volcano Pokemon bent particularly far to the left, stretching the skin on his right side.

For another, there was now the period where Quilava, agile as a Cyndaquil, was now trying to adapt into a body that didn't seem to be his…

Again and again, in doing the leaps that he was easily capable of doing as a Fire Mouse Pokemon, he'd lose his balance and crash to the ground, but would instantly spring upwards, determined not to let his master down- And he'd do it again. And again. And again.

Ziri groaned at this dogged determination of Quilava's to stay in his favor- So, he ran forward, where Quilava was struggling to his feet after a particularly hard fall.

"You can stop now, if you want-"

Quilava instantly sprang up at those words, rapidly shaking his head.

His owner merely sighed, and said "If you want to that bad, then fine, but I don't really care about how well you can thrash what's in front of you… Like _him_."

At that point, Ziri's eyes had a dark expression in them, before he stood up a second later, eyes free the look. "Want to practice some-"

He never got to finish, since Demetri Teleported to the clearing that the two were currently in, a distance away from the Pokemon Center; Ziri was jolted by the fact that his Gardevior that had done the Teleport was looking quite edgy, and even Demetri, who was usually quite calm under the mask which he was now under, was looking as such.

"We have to go. Now."

Ziri stood up quickly. "Why?"

"Team Rocket's five minutes north of the Pokemon Center. My Gardevior saw them when I let her out to be sentry for us, and Teleported me here to warn you- And get a head start on them."

Ziri, remembering yesterday's experience, immediately slung his backpack, unconsciously pulling out Quilava's Pokeball- But then remembered something.

He dropped his pack to the ground again, the berries inside and miscellaneous being protected by the apparently made-for-traveling backpack's padding, and said "Not yet."

Demetri stared at him. "_What_? Are you insane? Without me, you're dead meat- Don't you remember yesterday?"

"I do," Ziri snapped, not feeling the implied insult, "But the people inside… I have to warn them."

Demetri only gave a cold chuckle. "Let them die or get hurt or whatever. He have to go. Now."

"You go first," Ziri snapped, and lunged forward, hands pressing onto the ground; before the man could say more, the shockwave sent both him and the Embrace Pokemon that he owned stumbling backwards, with Quilava hunching down.

When they looked up, Ziri was no longer there, save for two very obvious footprints representing both his legs where they had dug into the ground- Violently- before he'd launched himself forward into the blur-run.

"Idiot," Demetri mumbled, quickly returning Gardevior, "Idiot!"

He had forgotten to say that it had been a minute since the Embrace Pokemon had contacted him, giving Ziri even less time to get to his intended destination- And live to tell the tale.

* * *

**Okay, time to mention people:**

**K. Fang- Where'd you go? Seriously, where? **

**MoneyStax- Hope this was enough fanservice, and that I represented her correctly... **

**Legendary Fairy- Any gripes with character presentation? Same as above??**

**Suvi-Sisko- I tried to contact you earlier, but I was forced to alter the storyline for this chapter because I couldn't this week. Will you be SOMEHOW capable of giving me your contact info? I mean, like, what do you want to nickname the Houndoom? **

**Eh, that's all folks- Remember to review!! Please!!! With a... A pizza on top!! **


	23. Terror pays badly

**This week was horrible- Just like last week. In fact, it might be that each week this season is horrible, and I'll just have to make a new rating scale on how horrible each week is...**

**But, as far as this story is concerned, everything must go on... And that includes this!! Oh, and to everyone that just realized that this story existed and decided to submit an OC- You're going to have to wait a bit, since the story as of now has been mostly fleshed out. Therefore, everyone else will mostly have to suffer a somewhat more minor role than the group right now... Hey, it pays to be early!! **

**On other notes... The above note may or may not apply, so don't resign yourself to thinking your OC is destined for the sidelines.**

**Anyway, Happy Reading!!**

* * *

Since blur-running was so demonically fast, Ziri got there only half a minute later, one full mile up the trail.

When he arrived, he found no trace of Team Rocket, but knew that he obviously only had a few minutes to warn everyone inside, get them out, then get _himself _out of there before god knew what happened.

Slightly out of breath, he bounded in, and immediately sprinted up the Nurse Joy. "Can you evacuate everyone out of here?" Ziri asked hurriedly, _very _slightly out of breath from his run.

He'd taken her by complete surprise, so she took a second to comprehend the request- And even then, she could only stammer, "I'm… I'm sorry?"

Ziri mentally groaned, but in a slower voice he repeated "Can you evacuate everyone out of here?"

Now comprehension dawned in her eyes, and she looked at him strangely. "For what reason?"

"Team Rocket's about to attack this place."

She looked at him in disbelief. "Wh-what? Why? What would they want-?"

"I… I don't know," he quickly said, "But I just know that they _will_."

She looked at him suspiciously. "What is this, a false alarm?"

Ziri felt flummoxed. "I'm serious! Do you think that _anybody _would want to joke about this kind of thing!?"

"Maybe Team Rocket members themselves," came the counter.

Ziri had thought of whether or not she would have said that or not a few seconds before she actually did, so he had his own counterstatement ready. "If I was, don't you wonder _why _I'd be one of them if I was running from them?"

Though he risked revealing Demetri's involvement, he brushed that bit of concern aside- More lives were at stake here than just one, after all…

The pink-haired nurse, after a few seconds of surprise, asked in a quavering voice: "What do you mean?"

Deciding to perform the fib of century, he said "Team Rocket did that to my Quilava."

This particular Nurse Joy had been the first one to witness Quilava's sickened state, and was the one who had also overridden other, less-significant-deemed patients- And had taken to doting on him for the duration of the surgery. She obviously couldn't forget him, unless someone had

She was stunned for a few seconds, before she reached down behind the counter and pushed something.

Instantly, a loud wailing rushed through the entire Pokemon Center, and the few people that were inside as of now immediately jumped up in shock. Ziri, wincing at the noise, was then immediately motioned to by the Chansey assistant, who began dragging him outside.

In the space of a few minutes, everyone- The unlucky man doing his business in the john, the various loiters in the lobby, and even the cooks- They were all outside, muttering darkly about some kind of false alarm, along with Ziri, who was beginning to feel foolish for having gotten everyone out for approximately no good reason.

It wasn't.

At exactly ten minutes past ten in the morning, three large spherical Pokemon literally rolled from out of nowhere and smacked against the walls of the Pokemon Center from three directions.

Spherical, as in, Pokeball spherical. And speaking of Pokeballs, they had the reverse color scheme of Pokeballs…

And then, all three let off a yellow light- And the world was literally blown to hell.

Everyone was forced to (1) stagger backwards or (2) hunker down from the force of the shockwave. Ziri, behind near the back of the small crowd of people, only had to perform the second option since the air front lost most of its force forcing the people in front to stagger backwards- Or in the case of one child, to fly off his feet.

He was first stunned at what Demetri had said being true- And now he was stunned at the scale of the destruction.

The reason for the destruction?

It was not the Beta Squad, who was busy slacking off in front of the Union Cave, wondering why the heck the two hadn't come yet- No, it was the surviving members of the Violet City chapter of Team Rocket.

For one thing, there were three with an Electrode. For another, all three, as per standard, knew Explosion, the next step up from Selfdestruct. For yet another, these Electrodes happened to be specially trained to roll in at maximum speed- And blow up whatever they first hit.

So, if they hit a wall, they blew up. So this time the Pokemon Center's walls were the target- Instant demolition.

As in, the walls, roof, _everything _was down. It had been reduced to rubble in a few seconds in instability- Ziri's mind flashed back to the chapter on entropy that one of his random science classes that he had taken just for fun. And to get his mind off of the events of his life back then.

_Structures, be it molecular or real world, always gravitate towards stability, increasing entropy… _

It was silly, but his teacher had been right about that, when he had built a block tower from scratch, a simple construction of blocks- And had proceeded to knock it over with a nonchalant swing of the arm.

Only problem was, he had knocked it _on _to himself…

But now, from where the Electrodes had rolled in, the Team Rocket members appeared, and instantly, the panicked babbling of the crowd was silenced upon recognition of the black uniforms.

"Alright, people," one of them began, businesslike, "Someone tells us where Demetri Koslov is…"

With that, he opened a Pokeball, revealing one extremely nasty-looking… _Thing _that hissed violently at them, from where the head was situated on the torso.

It didn't help that two extensions from the side of its head, ending with two very sharp-looking claws each, happened to be dripping with poison at that moment…

"And nobody gets hurt."

Ziri took the opportunity to check its information on the Pokedex, when the crowd began to yell abuse at said Team Rocket member: "**Drapion, the Ogre Scorp Pokemon. With its ability to turn** **its head a hundred and eighty degrees, this Pokemon has no blind spots. Its arms** **have enough power to rip through a car.**"

The owner suddenly had in his head the image of that happening to a person, and shuddered violently.

At that moment, the Team Rocket member said, loudly: "If you can't comply…"

"Then so be it. Drapion, Cross Poison anyone you want."

The Ogre Scorp Pokemon rushed forward, its forelimbs drawn across its front- Which _also _happened to be glowing with an evil purple light…

Its name was Cross Poison- At this point, it wasn't hard to see what was coming next for whoever was going to be the victim.

Not if the Nurse Joy could help it- "Chansey, Egg Bomb!"

The Egg Pokemon's namesake egg popped out of its pouch, and was gripped tightly by its owner before it was hurled right at the Drapion- And, on impact, for the second time that day the world was blown to hell.

Ziri was seriously regretting waking up this Sunday morning.

* * *

Demetri, having run up the trail towards the Pokemon Center having heard the first set of explosions, now heard yet another one.

Internally, he groaned. What the hell had that crazy kid gotten himself into now? First his Quilava, which was running alongside Demetri, and now into this assault on the Pokemon Center by Team Rocket. What would be next?

In any case, he kept running, feeling slightly foolish for feeling concern for the boy that he had only reluctantly befriended only yesterday…

* * *

The blast was strong enough to send the Drapion ten feet through he air and land upside down on the ground, ten feet away as well- Where it immediately popped back up, snarling.

His owner kept his cool- Slightly. "Use Dark Pulse!"

"Light Screen!"

The Team Rocket member looked _highly _annoyed at the sudden appearance of the barrier which instantly blocked the waves of energy laced with darkness- "Use Dig!"

Immediately, the Ogre Scorp Pokemon thrashed the ground beneath it with both of its massive forelimbs, and in a few seconds disappeared- The only trace of it ever being there the hole on the ground and a large cloud of dust surrounding said hole.

For a few seconds, nothing, save the quiet rustling of the wind, could be heard. Nurse Joy, looking worried, said "Be careful-"

"Cross Poison, now!"

Bursting from the earth behind the Egg Pokemon, the Ogre Scorp proceeded to slash through the air in an extremely obvious "X" through the air, which sent the wailing Chansey through the air- Now smirking, the owner called out "Finish it off with Crunch!"

Scampering forward with opened jaws, said jaws then closed around the Chansey, which was then shaken around for a few seconds- Before it realized that its prey had fallen unconscious, and with obvious disgust flung it away.

Silence as everyone digested this bit of failed resistance- Which Ziri now felt the serious need to run far, far away.

The man laughed, while his Drapion clicked its pincers menacingly- "Anyone else who wants to try?"

Another silence, to which the Team Rocket gang took as a no.

"Then tell us where Koslov is, because he had to have stopped here. Don't tell us garbage like he could have gone toward Cherrygrove City, because that's impossible for a guy who focuses on the big targets of Team Rocket."

Ziri sighed loudly and began shoving his way through the mass of people he was in. "Sorry… Excuse me, coming through…"

Every now watched him, in shock, as he finally stepped in front of all the civilians. "Okay, so you get pissed off by a guy that seems to hate you guys pretty badly, but then you guys take it out on _us_? Is there something wrong with how your mind functions, fool?"

The crowd took a collective breath at this double insult, and Demetri, waiting in the bushes with his mask on, groaned at Ziri's insane brazenness.

Apparently, the Team Rocket members were so dumbstruck by this show of _disrespect _that it took the leader, the one with the Drapion, a few seconds before he found his tongue- In that few seconds, Ziri managed to slide in a snide "Meowth got your tongue, retard?"

"Who the hell are you?" was the only thing the guy could say.

Unlucky them.

"The name, beyotches, is Zirienji Axlhedron, and please forgive me, but I think you guys are the worst bunch of retards in the history of man."

Stunned silence.

"I think I walk away now," Ziri said jauntily, and with that he leaned forward so to place his hands onto the ground.

The victims of verbal abuse finally snapped out of their befuddled state to roar furiously "Wait!"

But they were no match for the speed that Ziri put on, which left a shockwave and nothing but a sandy-brown blur where his hair was…

* * *

Demetri silently swore violently, as Ziri blasted right by him, and sent out Gardevior. "Teleport to the Union Cave entrance, quick!"

The Embrace Pokemon nodded, and a second later there was a flash of light- And they, Gardevior, Demetri, and the surprised Quilava, were gone.

When they instantly arrived there, the two (Demetri had immediately returned Gardevior) only had to wait some two minutes before Ziri skidded to a stop in front of them. "What'd I miss?" he said with mild constriction, somewhat out of breath.

A short silence, as Quilava immediately ran up to Ziri and nuzzled him.

"You," Demetri said, finally, "Are the most brazen person I have ever met."

"You just figured that out?"

It was at that moment, came the sleepy yell: "Boss! They're finally here!"

Ziri spun around, while Demetri tensed; another sleepy yell from the other side of the clearing responded to the first: "What? Seriously? This better not be another false alarm-"

Ziri immediately recognized the voice from yesterday, and hissed to Demetri: "Run for it!"

With that, he sprinted into the cave, with Quilava and Demetri following- Just as Jonathan popped up from his reclined position, having waited an hour for nothing.

After all, they had originally planned for them to be there around nine o'clock, and thanks to the magical combination of Quilava's injuries and the vengeful Violet City chapter of Team Rocket…

A second later, Jonathan stood up groggily from the impromptu nap that he had taken, and saw the back of Demetri's coat- And that sent him flying into a rage.

"Hit the explosives! _Now_!"

Only then did he realize that he'd bungled the plan. "Wait, no-!"

He'd meant to get the Beta Squad _into _the cave before it blew, but now all the preparation meant nothing as from within the cave, a series of deep rumbles were heard…

Inside, Ziri and Demetri were feeling that they'd lost them- When the explosives blew.

From the ceiling of the cave came a rain of rocks, in a thick avalanche of sound and matter; Ziri yelped and dived to the side, while Demetri, slightly surprised by the planning of those idiots from yesterday, only followed suit when he realized a one-ton boulder was falling dead towards him.

The cave wasn't that dark- That's why he'd learned of it through sight, not from actual contact which would have obviously been lethal.

But the fact remained- The two had dived towards opposite directions, with now a ten-foot high mountain of debris separating them.

As soon as Ziri was sure that the rocks weren't out to murder him anymore, he raised his head from the crouching position he was in (First taking his arms off his head), and yelled "Demetri! You okay?"

A few seconds later and no response- Ziri tried again. "Hey Demetri? Are you dead yet?"

Obviously, if he was, then he wouldn't respond- But intentionally asked the question in order to tick him off into answering, if he was intentionally not answering.

It worked.

"Of course I'm not dead, idiot!"

Ziri sighed- That was good, at least. "Where are you?"

"On the other side of this wall, idiot!"

Obviously, the insulting term for mental deficiency was becoming Demetri's favorite term for Ziri- But now was not the time. "So anyway, how do we get out of here?"

"We… We have to keep going to the end. They blocked the entrance on your side, so at least we know where _not _to go…"

He had a sense of humor? That was a shock…

"So we just split up?"

Demetri was about to answer…

When there came a yell of "He's still here!"

It was not Demetri- On the other side of the mountain of rock, he whirled around, to behold the members of the Beta Squad crowding into the cave. Demetri now realized that the cascade had separated Ziri from him- And the entrance to the cave from Route 32. Well, there was still a side passage to Demetri's current (Facing the outside) right- But he had no idea where it led…

"Okay, so where is he, Koslov?"

His contemplation was rudely interrupted by the heavyset Jackson, so Demetri retorted with a sharp "Nowhere that you could possible go, fools."

His face, even in the dim light of the cave, now went a very obvious shade of purple- "Oh, so you think _we're _the fools? What does that make you, trying to help a kid?"

This was one of his "accidental insights" that he often had, along with his tendency to spring out random proverbs- And this rendered Demetri speechless.

For one second, before he said, calmly, "And why are you chasing him?"

"He's got valuable cargo, fool," came the quick response, "So just get out of our business and you don't get-"

Luxray popped out, a pronounced snarl on his face, and everyone's' eyes instantly snapped into Luxray's face. And fangs…

"Now," Demetri mused in a philosophical tone, "Why would I move aside? You're criminals, you happen to be guilty of countless crimes against humans and Pokemon…"

"And besides, my reputation is for killing people like you."

Immediately, all four members of the Beta Squad moved their hands to their Pokeballs.

"You're going to regret that," Jonathan finally said, after a staring contest- Which he had lost.

Instead of responding, Demetri didn't even let them take out a Pokemon- "Luxray, Discharge!"

The four Team Rocket members yelped and ducked as the bolts of electricity flew through the air- Demetri had wisely decided to duck behind a rock, which easily absorbed the stray burst of electricity that had flown towards him.

Unfortunately, none of the Team Rocket members had been incapacitated…

Demetri sighed, and threw out Tyranitar's Pokeball.

The Armor Pokemon appeared, growling viciously, and the four Pokemon that had been sent out by the Beta Squad drew back in nervousness.

It didn't help that Luxray was Intimidating them, as well…

In any case, Demetri now called "Rock Slide!"

The Armor Pokemon slammed a foot into the ground, and slowly, the four Pokemon in front of him- The Gligar, yet again the Machop, the same Zubat so addicted to Aipom's blood from yesterday, and the Ekans- Pretty much the same from yesterday- Looked fearfully upwards.

Which was good, because a fresh rain of rocks were falling.

They all instantly scattered- Especially the Zubat (Though it was blind, its ultrasonic waves were most certainly effective at "seeing" things, even if it was falling). Well, they weren't exactly lucky in this respect- The rain of rocks was thick, and the fact that their owners had already created a few _extremely _nasty impacts on the roof anyway only made it thicker than usual.

One-The Gligar was bashed into the ground, despite the fact that being part ground would usually offset the glaring weakness of flying-types. That was the point- Even without the weakness, it was instantly toast, anyway.

The Machop? Although being a pure fighting-type definitely helped, in the end not much better. Being not as agile as the rest, it caught a particularly large crag on the side of the head and dropped to the ground, looking like the sky had fallen on its head.

The Zubat was the lucky one, and succeeded and flitting to the side, managing to get out of most of the massive rain of rock- But nobody noticed it.

And the Ekans? Well, being more agile than the Superpower Pokemon definitely helped- But in the end it didn't, since it get conked on the side of the head anyway.

When the artificial rain of rocks was over, three of the four Pokemon sent out were instantly downed by the single move- So the Beta Squad hurriedly returned their Pokemon and sprinted out of there. Even the Zubat.

Demetri listened to their violent cursing as they sprinted out smugly, before he returned both Luxray and Tyranitar.

"Ziri," he called as he turned around-

And for a few seconds, his call echoed through the cave, with no response- Demetri groaned and headed up the side passage he'd seen earlier and thankfully hadn't been blocked by Tyranitar's artificial Rock Slide.

Of course Ziri wasn't sticking around- Yesterday had been enough of a lesson to keep away from these guys, and he had seen Demetri's methods first hand two days ago when he had taken liberty with explosions…

* * *

Ziri had taken ten minutes of running away- Now, deep in the cave with little light, he realized with a sinking heart that he was lost.

First- How was he going to see?

Then he groaned. It was so damn obvious!

"Quilava, flame on!"

The Volcano Pokemon burst out of his Pokeball, back blazing- Now he could see, far from the ruined entrance, that he was surrounded by stalagmites and (Surprisingly enough) some large streams of water running down the walls.

"Interesting," he mused aloud, and then reached down, between the area of Quilava's flame vents, to stroke the rough fur of the back. "Thanks, buddy."

Quilava nodded in pride, which instantly caused Aipom to burst from her Pokeball and chitter indignantly.

Ziri sighed. "Okay, okay, but can you light up this cave?"

Her response was to throw a Swift randomly.

The star flew, and upon impact on what appeared to be what was a string of boulders created a bright flare of light that illuminated the entire cave.

For a full two seconds, before the cave returned to semidarkness, being saved from complete darkness by Quilava's flame.

Ziri couldn't help but raise his eyebrow suggestively at the now-disappointed Aipom, who sank to the ground looking gloomy, the effect compounded by the shadowy cave. "Okay," he said gently, "So you did you best on that one… You're not designed to be a lamp, you're designed to dance around and piss everyone off."

She gave him a dirty look, to which he immediately backtracked. "Uh, no, not really… You're just fast, as in bullet-fast compared to most Pokemon…"

She puffed out her chest at this point…

Only to notice that the ground was beginning to rumble.

Ziri whirled around, for the second time that day…

To behold the string of boulders that Aipom had hit earlier begin moving.

Slowly, all three began backing away, until he felt the surface of a boulder on his back as slowly, the head of a gigantic snake- A snake made of rocks- Began to rise.

Slowly, he raised a trembling hand from his pocket, and pointed his Pokedex at the… thing.

"**Onix, the Rock Snake Pokemon. Onix can burrow through the ground at fifty miles an hour, keeping in straight lines thanks to the magnet inside its brain. The older this Pokemon grows, the harder and smoother the stones that consist it become.**"

Slowly, Ziri looked up again to realize it was staring right at him.

And then it roared so hard that Ziri, wincing even through the hands that he had clamped over his ears, was sure another shower of rock would rain upon them.

A second later, he realized that it was rearing backwards, and on instinct, he yelled "Move!"

Quilava and Aipom moved to the left- Ziri dived to the right, and when he looked back after the thundering crash he realized with much horror that the boulder that had blocked his backing away was now nothing but a pile of rubble- And even that didn't last as the head of the Rock Snake emerged from the pile.

On instinct, he shouted "Quilava, Ember!"

Sure, from where he was, he saw the cave briefly illuminate form the flames that smacked against the Onix's rocks- But it only whirled towards the Volcano Pokemon, looking only like the rocky skin had been simply burnt…

Now came a Swift, where the stars again splashed against the Onix's body. But again, it made no difference- Instead, the Onix slammed its tail on the ground…

Sending up some rather large rocks.

"Guys, move!"

And as he said that, praying that they'd dodge it safe and sound…

He picked up a rock and chucked it right at the back of its head.

It struck dead on the large, uplifted thin ridge on the top of head, and then the Onix roared in pain, turning around. Ziri immediately backed away as the ground groaned from the slithering motion of the various rocks that made up its body- And then it dived forward again, seeking to make him paste on the wall-

Not if Ziri could help it. He flung himself to the side, and only saved himself by inches; the Onix smashed through the row of stalagmites that Ziri had almost impaled himself against, but popped up, quite angered.

"Quilava, another Ember!" Ziri called, as a he clambered backwards.

As the Rock Snake Pokemon reared its head for another Tackle, it then jerked, roaring in pain from the vicious barrage of flames that smacking dead on its nose. Turning its attention to the Volcano Pokemon, who was still launching the flames…

It then let loose an ear piercing screech that rippled through the air, the visible shockwave striking Quilava and sending him rolling away, yelping with the pain in his ears-

It would have gone on longer had Aipom not launched yet another Swift- And it hit dead in the eye.

Ziri winced- And then for himself winced, first from the fact that Aipom _knew _where to hit people the best, and also from the fact that the tail, whipping through the air, sent a series of shards from a broken stalagmite dead at him, lightly grazing his right arm.

It would have been worse, had he not moved in an attempt to check on the still rolling-in-agony Volcano Pokemon- But that was the mistake.

Aipom had also unwittingly jumped in between Ziri and the Onix, so that when the Rock Snake launched itself forward and Aipom leapt aside, Ziri looked up- And realized that the unfortunate syzygy was all to real.

It was yet another glancing blow, but it was enough to send Ziri flying, yelping in pain from where the Onix had hit him on the shoulder. He landed in a thankfully smooth area, and looked up with a grimace on his face, only to realize that the Onix realized that it had hit something, and now that it finally had it turned its attention to the groaning Ziri.

Unbeknownst to everyone there, the egg had fallen out of Ziri's backpack in the fall, having been forgotten in the events of yesterday.

And with a cracking sound that arrested the attention of all combatants in this odd medley, the egg began to rattle.

* * *

By that time, ten-thirty, the group was barely south of Violet City at all. After all, none of them of had the berserk speed that was Ziri's trademark. Zailia, realizing there was a gym there, had craftily said that she'd stay.

Hannah was happy with that- She didn't like her I'm-holier-than-thou attitude anyway. And besides, her Pokedex was fixed…

She, surprisingly, was the one who (Very quietly) pushed them to go faster. She _was _worried, after all, about Ziri, for no good reason besides the fact he had a very dangerous habit of going alone to new places which he had no idea what was like.

Unbeknownst to her, he'd already picked up a (Reluctant) friend- But she wasn't to know that. Besides, who would believe him if he told people that his new semi-buddy was Demetri Koslov?

* * *

For a full ten seconds everyone watched, spellbound by the hatching.

And then, unlike Togepi, who had popped out as well to watch, the egg did not remain in any way on the new Pokemon.

Instead, after _fifteen _seconds since the shaking began, the entire thing blew.

Ziri instinctively shielded his eyes from the shards of egg that flew- Until he realized that the pieces had flown _upwards_, not in all directions. Silently thanking whatever was inside…

He lowered his hands, to discover an odd, lizard-like Pokemon with an _interesting _ridge running down its back, which ended in a dome-like protrusion on the top of its skull. The rest of its body was a shade of blue, with two hole like structures on the side of the head, with stubby arms.

_What the_-

The Onix roared suddenly, in an obvious attempt to intimidate the newborn- Which, for some odd reason, did not succeed.

The Pokemon simply stared curiously at his much larger counterpart, and said in a just as curious voice: "_Who're you?_"

"_What… What am I?!_"

At this point, the Rock Snake Pokemon began to laugh. "_I'm one of the rulers of this cave, and this pathetic human's man prey… Along with all of his minions!_"

"_Wow, you must be strong!_" came the excited response. "_Can I fight you? Huh? Huh? Huh-?_"

The Onix stared, stunned. "_You __**think **__a weakling like you can beat me-? You're not even as large as one of the rocks that compose me!_"

And with that, it began to scornfully laugh.

The Onix had made three mistakes.

One, it had picked a fight with Ziri- And it had provided enough of a disturbance to hatch the egg.

Two, it had aroused the new hatching's interest in its power.

Three- The worst one- It had directly scorned the hatchling.

And this one had a _very _rash nature. And, it happened to have a _very _interesting attack in its arsenal…

Immediately, the new hatchling puffed up his chest in anger. "_What did you say!?_"

That was when Ziri, still cowering, noticed that it was beginning to puff its chest up.

The Onix, still bellowing with laughter, didn't notice- And it should have, as the attack that was coming was going to, pardon the language, hurt like hell.

At that point, the unknown Pokemon, to the surprise of all, opened its mouth- And let loose in the dim light of the cave a massive burst of water that smashed into the surprised- And the unconscious- Onix.

With a crash that almost sent Ziri back onto the ground, it fell, dripping with water.

In the meantime, the Pokemon suddenly hopped in and down in obvious jubilation…

"**Bagon, the Rock Head Pokemon. The skulls of these Pokemon are as hard as steel. This quality they have come as a result of their doomed attempts to achieve their dream to fly, jumping off cliffs- And then falling to the solid earth below, shattering any rock they fall on.**"

At this, Ziri couldn't help but wince, before he remembered that move that the Bagon had used.

Thankfully, the Pokedex _also _had an entry for this- "**Hydro Pump, a water-type move. The user expels a massive amount of water from its body with incredible force, often enough to puncture solid steel.**"

Ziri now looked up, to see the Bagon still jumping around and Quilava attempting to talk to it.

At this- It instantly began to jump up and down, and Quilava instantly drew back in fright, as he saw water dribbling down its chin.

From what Ziri knew, it must be because of that crazy Hydro Pump move- So he quickly picked himself up, backpack included, and immediately walked over. "Um, hello?"

The Bagon immediately jumped towards him- remembering the rock-hard skull, Ziri quickly moved backwards as to soften the blow.

And it still hurt like hell. Ziri fell backwards _again_, gasping in pain from where the dive had struck him on the solar plexus. The Bagon, taking no notice of the pain, immediately crawled over him, flailing with his forelimbs.

At least _that _didn't hurt very much…

As he got the wind back into him, he let the Bagon crawl over him, while Quilava, realizing the predicament of his master, immediately bounded over, growling.

The Rock Head Pokemon popped up, eager to fight- But one warning glance from Ziri instantly made Quilava stand down, as the teen slowly placed both hands around the tiny dragon-type.

The Bagon was surprised, obviously, judging from the fact that it wasn't resisting- So, Ziri took him up, and stared into its beady eyes.

"Um… Hi?"

The Rock Head Pokemon blinked twice, before it immediately let out a "BaBaBagonBagon!"

"Rash little critter, huh," Ziri mused, as it quieted down, looking quite obediently at the human below him.

Then he blinked, at the sheer absurdity of the fact.

Why did it look like it was _obedient_?

It then began to affectionately nibble at the fingers that held it, prompting Ziri to immediately let go- And realize that in reality the Rock Head Pokemon was quite heavy, at least to a normal person of his age.

"What the hell?"

Another check of the Pokedex confirmed it- 92.8 pounds.

Ziri winced, realizing that it would probably shatter his rib cage if it tackled him, even if he could easily carry it around..

The question- Would it?

He looked at it tentatively, but the Bagon showed no signs of malice- In fact, now, to the amusement of all the three other Pokemon there, it began to crawl over Ziri.

He was forced to chuckle- It tickled.

"Okay, little guy," he laughed, as he gingerly stood up- Immediately…

He was forced to one knee when it dived at the back of his knee, sending him down on it. As he violently mumbled curses and rubbed his knee, while Quilava scolded the newborn…

There came the thought- Why had Professor Elm gotten him stuck with such a violent Pokemon?

* * *

It took Demetri nearly an hour to get to where Ziri had been five minutes after they had entered- Mainly because he was forced to take a much longer route than the boy that he'd been trying to put up with. He immediately spotted the Onix, which had been lying there since Bagon had put it to sleep with a surprise Hydro Pump; and copious amount of water.

"Strange," he mused, "I didn't know he had a water-type with him…"

In fact, before he entered this cave Demetri was sure he _didn't_, so where would a Pokemon like that have come from?

He was sure it wasn't the Lapras rumored to reside in the cave, despite common logic that the Transport Pokemon were seafaring Pokemon… And it was a rumor, anyway.

That's when Demetri spotted the egg. Well, no, the shards of them, anyway. He walked over, and, inspecting them in the dim light, realized that they were of a bluish color.

This would suggest that Ziri had hatched a water-type in an egg that he hadn't let Demetri see- But he got the feeling that it _wasn't _a water-type.

He could be wrong- But he had seen this particular egg's color before, anyway.

* * *

Twelve noon- And they were still _nowhere_. Staying in the urban area of Violet City for a few days now, it was a shock to see the wild that stretched miles and miles upon miles.

At this point, the heat was beginning to get to _all _of them, though nobody wanted to stop for fear of being on the receiving end of Hannah's wrath.

So, it all came as a relief when Hannah herself called for a break (Albeit reluctantly).

Lucky her, because this would get her something _very _interesting. Well, not a thing, necessarily, but…

As they lounged in the shade of a particularly large tree (Urya remembered this; the site where Ziri had battled Zailia yesterday and then proceeded to run off was just ahead), the lazy, slow conversation turned to Azalea Town.

"What _is _it like?" came the question from Alex, having never been to Johto before.

All the eyes save Gale turned to Hannah, who immediately gave them death glares. "I only moved here two… No, three weeks ago, okay? I don't know this place!"

Gale immediately said "Actually, it's pretty small."

All eyes, even Hannah's turned to _him_, which he refused to be affected by. "I've only seen some photos, but it's like Cherrygrove City in size, but slightly bigger."

At the very least, he'd given them a picture…

"There's a gym there, right?" Alex inquired.

"There should be… So Ziri'll have to stop there."

Instantly, everyone there brightened- Synthia with eagerness to beat it into Ziri's head that no, she was not going to disappear, Gale from the expectation that everyone would stop relying on him, Urya from the thoughts of the pranks that he'd pull off, and Hannah…

Well, so that she'd have somebody to exercise on- That's what she told herself, but she wondered if it ran deeper.

At that point, the group of four became aware of a series of yelps and crashing sounds coming from behind a number of bushes some distance away.

Again and again, they heard the same, high-pitched yelp, until it suddenly became obvious that if Hannah didn't move, then she'd be knocked silly by whatever was approaching.

Finally-

With a sudden roar, the bush suddenly exploded into flames, as another, much more pained cry, different from the first one, sounded- But then it faded. Rapidly.

_Too _rapidly…

Five seconds later, Hannah slowly approached the bush, and quickly looked around it, ready to jump back if something violent decided that it would want to eat her.

She didn't find _anything_- Save a rather large scorch mark that went for some ten feet, and hurt-looking dog-like Pokemon some five feet off the other end of said scorch mark with currently harsh breathing…

* * *

** I don't think that this was a good chapter- I think it was just okay. **

**Tell me what you guys think... A.K.A. review!! Please!! With... With... Uh, roast Farfetch'd on top!! **


	24. Third time's the rock sliding charm

**I hated this week and last. **

**In the time that I should have taken to write up a chapter, I was assaulted with the burden of science fair, AP- Yes, as in Advanced Placement Biology, AP World History (Same there), the horrors of precal, and the fact that God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen was my Christmas CD Remix didn't help- Have you guys seen how damned LONG that song is?? **

**I'm in the tenth grade, but I swear I'll bite myself daily if this keeps up to control my sanity. Oh well, what the hell. **

**So, after a week's hiatus... Happy Reading!! **

* * *

In that same time frame, Ziri had wandered deeper in the cave- And was now hopelessly lost.

His problems were only compounded by the constant chattering- And attempts to murder- of his newly hatched Bagon…

Quilava was _trying _to keep the youngster at bay from his master, but when the Volcano Pokemon's back was turned he'd always lunge at Ziri five minutes later after a scolding. Thankfully, Ziri was well versed in the art of avoiding back attacks, so he could dodge these wild ambushes with ease.

But, he realized with a sinking heart, he'd sooner or later be dealing with another Urya…

So, in exasperation, two hours since the Rock Head Pokemon had hatched, he turned and asked "Will you please stop?"

To the amazement of everyone there- The highly annoyed Quilava, the madly giggling Aipom, and the human who had said the words himself- The Bagon immediately, just as it was preparing another dive, stopped and stood still quite obediently.

"Um…"

Then he realized it.

He was Bagon's master. It, despite its rash, crazed, over-affectionate nature (Somewhat like Aipom), would listen to him and apparently him only, despite Quilava's constant scoldings.

Ziri sighed, and knelt down besides it. "Walk in front of me, will you? So I don't have to worry about being bushwhacked by some crazy Onix."

Surprisingly enough (Too many things about this thing was surprising), it listened, and immediately stood in front of him.

And so, Ziri kept going, feeling much safer, both from any rogue Onix that might get brazen enough to attack, and from Bagon's own affectionate ambushes.

* * *

Hannah stared down at the Growlithe, and the large number of bruises that stretched over its body.

Weakly, sensing someone besides it, it opened an eye and stared at her.

From its jaws, as a threat, it spat out some flames- Which burned out an inch from its nose.

It winced at this, and closed its eyes once more, prompting Hannah to immediately walk closer in an attempt to pick it up-

Before she could, it instinctively snapped its jaws at her outstretched arm- Although it was slow enough to pull it out of the way just in time, she still let out a surprised yelp that sent Alex and Urya running over.

"What is it-? Oh," Alex deadpanned, upon realizing that it was _this _thing that had caused the ruckus.

She offered a hand to it- And this time she wasn't as lucky as the older girl besides her.

With a shriek, she jerked back a bloodied finger, the victim of a Bite from the downed Puppy Pokemon. Urya looked like he wanted to laugh- But he kept himself composed, for the sake of living, and asked "What're we gonna do with it?"

Hannah, remembering how Flora had soothed the crowd back at the Contest, released the Leaf Pokemon.

Flora looked at the fire-type with pity- Which the Growlithe only shuddered from an unknown cause of pain before going still again.

"Sweet Scent," her owner ordered, and immediately Flora complied, sending forth a cloud of pink that enveloped the Puppy Pokemon.

Five seconds later, the visibly tensed muscles relaxed, and as the cloud of pink faded Hannah walked over and gingerly picked it up.

Still under the effects of the Sweet Scent, it didn't resist as she carried it back to where the others were- Who immediately stared. "Is that the thing that caused the bush to go up in flames?" Gale asked, noting the bruises stretching across the skin.

Hannah nodded uncertainly. "This thing's a fire-type, I think… Lemme check…"

Alex fumbled for her Pokedex- But then she realized that Hannah had her fixed one out which then spoke in a somewhat different voice from Ziri's: "**Growlithe, the Puppy Pokemon. This Pokemon has a superb sense of smell and will never forget anything it smells, letting it feel the emotions of others. It has a friendly and loyal nature- However, if you intrude on its territory, it will result in it biting you.**"

Hannah looked up from her electronic encyclopedia. "I don't think it was exactly defending its territory, since I think it was being chased by something before… Well I saw it…"

She set it down, and Synthia only needed one good look before she pulled out a potion. "You have any berries?" she asked in a business-like voice.

Immediately, Gale, Urya, Hannah, and Alex said automatically "Ziri does."

And then they realized that he wasn't there and simultaneously groaned, while Synthia looked at them, nonplussed about them mentioning someone not in their presence…

"Why did _all _of you guys say that?"

"Well," Alex began weakly, but Gale quickly- And brutally- Summarized it all.

"He looks for berries by the pound every morning, so if he was here he'd be putting at least fifteen berries on that thing in a heartbeat."

"But he's not," Synthia said pointedly.

"Wish he was," Hannah sighed, and looked at the Puppy Pokemon. "Will you use the potion on it already?"

Synthia remembered what she was holding in her hand, and, shooting a dark glance Hannah's way, she sprayed it on and watched it cringe and then relax, as the initial sting was replaced by relief that the pain had gone away.

With that, they had pretty much nothing else to do there- So, five minutes later, they set out once more.

Only this time, Hannah, somehow feeling protective, decided to carry around the Growlithe…

* * *

Two hours later, Ziri was now feeling hungry. Very.

He had no clue if Team Rocket was still in the cave, so as silently as possible he moved through the cave, treading only on stones that weren't wet from the various streams of water flowing through the cave. After all, although he had a pretty good sense of balance, a slippery stone is a stone you fall over on- And he cursed very loudly when he fell over things. Or got knocked over, anyway…

But, as Quilava's flames began to flicker and the very real grumbles of everyone's stomachs began to roll through the cave, he decided to call a rest.

Bagon was quite relieved, as it had been busy whining its hunger- Quietly to be sure- To Ziri, who consoled it with whispers of them eventually going into sunlight- But now, he was quite sure that they wouldn't get out for at least a few hours.

So, he unpacked, and took out the freeze-dried foods that he'd taken liberty with his money back in Violet City.

He quickly motioned for Quilava to move towards a particularly flat rock- So then he ordered, quietly, an Ember.

The flames splashed against the flat stone, and after fifteen seconds of bombardment it was glowing a deep red.

He let it go on until Quilava was panting as it attempted to ignite its flame vents more for launching the flames- And then he quickly said "That's enough" and immediately placed the two packs of food that he'd brought out on it.

Immediately, they began hissing quite potently, and he jumped back as the hidden steam inside began to coalesce within the transparent bag.

"Ten minutes," he said encouragingly, and then, to pass time, he pulled out his Pokeblock case.

Instantly, Quilava and Aipom popped up, mouths watering; Bagon only looked at them, confused, until Quilava was happily flaring fire, Aipom was wildly dancing around at normally impossible speeds, and Ziri was rolling around, crazily laughing- So, the Rock Head Pokemon, feeling quite left out, paddled up to his new trainer and nudged his mirthfully thrashing arm.

Immediately he stopped and looked at him. "What, want some?"

Immediately, Bagon nodded, happily jumping up and down, and Ziri cracked another grin before he randomly selected a Pokeblock, and tossed it at him.

It landed dead in Bagon's open mouth, and the Rock Head Pokemon blinked three times.

The entire cave was silent as everyone considered what the heck was going on…

Before Bagon suddenly began to crow "BaBagonBaBaBagonBagon!!"

In addition, it began to launch itself randomly around, slamming into the walls and whatnot- Ziri almost dropped the case when he realized that there was a rock slide breeding, judging from the rattling sound filling the cave…

"Stop!" Ziri shouted, but Bagon continued, unabated; this time, Ziri sprinted up to it, yelling "Stop stop stop!"

Although Bagon appeared to be in a state of ecstasy and was now hurtling towards him, Ziri didn't hesitate in diving at the oncoming dragon-type- Even though he felt like he'd broken a rib. The two crashed onto the ground, with Ziri on top restraining Bagon.

Quilava, frightened, nonetheless tip-toed over; Aipom was busy hiding behind a stalagmite. Bagon looked up, eyes still distant from the Pokeblock- induced high; Ziri, realizing that his rib was _not _broken, stayed on for the next five minutes, despite the Rock Head Pokemon's persistent wriggling.

Finally, when Ziri thought that the skin on his chest would be rubbed raw, the little bugger below him stopped moving, so he sat back, groaning.

More at the trouble that he was in, than the pain- He had in his possession an over-possessive and timid simian with now one more over-excitable and happily violent… _Thing _with a skull harder than steel. Only his Quilava seemed normal…

How was he going to get out of the damned cave?

Thankfully, his Pokegear's alarm rang for lunchtime…

* * *

It was at that time that Demetri had his own crazy encounter.

With the rather nasty Golbat and Zubat colony of the cave.

While he did not often pack food for journeys like this, Demetri was a hardy person, and so would not fall that easily to the pangs of hunger- Like Ziri, even if Demetri didn't have anything like Ziri's physical prowess.

And so, he kept walking, ears out for any Onix that he might stumble upon (The Onix that Ziri's Bagon had taken out with prejudice with a Hydro Pump had given him a heads up on the danger of being in the cave), he realized that he was hearing a small bit of flapping.

He looked around- Nothing, whatsoever. There was no movement from any part of the cave in his view…

But then he remembered.

If you have wings, you can go down, to the sides, and up.

So, he looked up.

He wished he hadn't.

There was a rather large number large, oddly-shaped bats with large wings and an oblong body, with a obvious set of legs on the bottom of its feet; in other words, he was seeing a colony of Golbat.

And they were staring at him quite greedily.

Three seconds of silence passed, as a result of Demetri looking at them- Now that their attempts to sneak up to him were and truly screwed…

They now dropped on him, screeching as they did- Demetri sprinted for the other side of this particular passage, while he called "Go, Gardevior!"

The Embrace Pokemon appeared, glaring at the oncoming mass of Bat Pokemon; they all slowed down at this, before they resumed their charge.

Demetri had not sent out his Gardevior in order for it to intimidate them (Which as an ability it didn't have anyway) or to be instantly taken down by the oncoming jaws of the Bat Pokemon, in what was obviously a bunch of Leech Life attacks. "Psychic!"

The eyes of Gardevior glowed, and suddenly all the Golbats slowed, and then completely stopped, flailing with helpless surprise at the sudden telekinetic force- Demetri, knowing that sooner or later they'd overwhelm the Embrace Pokemon, called "Finish them off! Dark Pulse!"

Eyes still glowing, Gardevior held up her hands- And then began gathering a dark mass between her hands. As the ones held by the Psychic in front of her began to wriggle insistently against the barrier that the Embrace Pokemon had mentally erected around them…

They were totally knocked out of it by the force of the Dark Pulse launched at them. The dark shockwaves sent them all flying through the air, landing with a collective thud that, like so many other things, echoed throughout the cave; Demetri now recognized the opportunity, since they get up sooner or later. "Let's go!"

And so they ran, and ran, and ran- But not before one particularly irked Zubat followed him out…

* * *

Falkner had been easy prey, the boy had figured as he walked down Route 31. Only yesterday afternoon, after he'd healed, he decided to raise the bar on his Pokemon- And chose to challenge Falkner.

_The two flunkies in front had instantly let him in- Too many people below the usual age had challenged Falkner the last four days, so they decided not to underestimate him and simply stepped aside._

_Thankfully, his description was hidden by the cap- It still felt unnatural, slightly more than a week after he'd began wearing it, and he wanted off with it._

_But it was necessary- So, he walked in, to view Falkner busy talking to one of his flunkies- Who, along with said gym leader, immediately turned to his direction._

"_I believe you're here to battle me?" _

_The boy resisted a smirk- At least he was direct, so he wouldn't have to banter in order to battle. _

"_Yes. Is the battlefield ready?" _

"_It's been ready since this morning, but nobody's come in yet… Save you," the purple-haired gym leader said dismissively as he walked to the exact end of the rectangular field. _

_The teen had known all about his defeat at Ziri's hands, thanks to the judicious reporting of the newscaster from two days prior. So, he decided to stick a needle into the rather sensitive pincushion, and said in the most innocent voice that he could muster, "Really? I thought, getting beaten by that Ziri guy, people would be rushing to this place-" _

_He knew a reaction was coming. _

_However, he was surprised that Falkner merely closed his eyes and opened them a second later, quite composed. "I knew that trainers would expect that… But I don't hold it against him." _

_The teen was both surprised and furious at this apparent ability of Ziri to make a friend out of anyone- But he held it in check. _

_What would he send out first…_

_He had it. _

"_Gastly, standby for battle." _

_The Gas Pokemon appeared, fangs gleaming as its large tongue flapped out in front of it; Falkner's eyes narrowed at it, before he brought his own Pokeball. _

"_Staravia, fly high!" _

_The Starling Pokemon, as per battle call, soared upwards- Before it performed a loop-de-loop and settled there, looking impassively at the loosely-held sphere of gas below. _

_Likewise, the Gas Pokemon only looked at the bird above it, lolling its tongue- Anyway, the referee, taking his customary place on the side of the field, called "This battle is between Falkner, Gym Leader of Violet City and-" _

_At this point he turned his head towards the challenger. "Your name is…?" _

_Not turning his head from the battlefield, he merely said "I prefer not to be named." _

_The referee was confused- But then again, challengers had that privilege, so he continued: "-and the anonymous challenger. This will be a… Two on two battle." _

_Obviously, since he'd taken a short pause to scrutinize how many Pokemon that he had on his belt. _

"_Begin!" _

_Falkner first called, "Wing Attack!" _

_With outstretched, glowing wings, Staravia charged, diving downwards- _

_The boy only smirked, before he decided to use the result of the… __**Object **__that he'd picked up earlier. "Gastly, counter with Will-o-Wisp!" _

_Immediately, a bluish sphere of flames formed in front of the Gas Pokemon, which, by its flailing tongue, flew forward at the oncoming Staravia- Which proceeded to explode on contact._

_The flames sent the Starling Pokemon skywards, squawking as it attempted to flush out the burning feeling that was spreading across its body…_

_Instantly, Falkner realized that the Willow-o-Wisp had given his Pokemon a vicious burn in addition to the initial explosion, but held back from using would be a straight-up coup-de-grace; instead, he called "Continue forward with Wing Attack!" _

_Braving through the pain, the Staravia flew onwards- The teen had not been expecting this, but he decided to press his advantage. "Sucker Punch!" _

_The Gas Pokemon zoomed forward, and, though it looked impossible, slammed into the body of its foe- Even though it was technically made of gas. _

_It, just like Shadow yesterday, caught the Staravia perfectly off-guard, but Falkner only needed half a second to instinctively call "Hit it! Now!" _

_The glowing wings now finally had their use as they swiped through air and so smacked the Gas Pokemon upside the head, sending it tumbling. It didn't hurt as much at is should have, given that the burn had made every movement painful and so Staravia had restricted its movement…_

_But, since Gastlys had low physical defense anyway, it was very wobbly in rising from the ground. _

_The teen gritted his teeth- He had not expected the Gas Pokemon to have actually been forced to experience a physical impact. So, knowing that he should make as much use of what spare health he had at his disposal, he now called "Night Shade!" _

_One problem. _

_The bolts of black energy flew from the eyes of the Gastly ,but when they struck they simply bounced away, leaving the Staravia unharmed- Falkner smirked at the apparent lapse of judgment when using the move, since the Starling Pokemon was both a flying and normal-type, and called "Endeavor!" _

_If Gastlys were some other type instead of ghost (the poison could stay), then most certainly it would have worked quite well, since the Starling Pokemon's health was quite low itself. _

_But, unfortunately, it wasn't, and therefore it didn't. The Staravia flew forward, seeking to take revenge- With one hitch in the plan. _

_The glowing bird passed right through. _

_The teen was the one who smirked now, knowing that normal-type moves were useless against ghosts- "Gastly, Confuse Ray!" _

_The shimmering burst of light flew forward as the eyes of the Gas Pokemon glowed, and immediately, Staravia wobbled through the air before it landed and proceeded to beat itself up on the dirt. _

_Falkner gritted his teeth in this apparent repeat of the incidents with Ziri and Urya, and shouted "Staravia, calm down-" _

_As it happened, it __**tried, **__but at that moment the boy returned his Pokemon, pocketed it, and, before the referee could even open his mouth threw out the new one…_

_To reveal a Totodile. _

_Falkner had no idea why he was sending out a water-type in order to confront a flying type._

_He hadn't. _

_Then he did. _

"_Ice Fang, now!" _

_And so, the Big Jaw Pokemon charged forward and clamped down upon the exposed neck of the Staravia. _

_Falkner blinked, and then realized that the three second switch, aided by the fact that his Pokemon (Now limp in the jaws of the Totodile) was confused anyway, he'd been taken down. _

"_Um," the referee fumbled, before he called "Staravia is unable to battle. Please send out your last Pokemon!" _

_Falkner now felt quite on the edge- But even with the ice-type move that had so taken out Staravia with prejudice, he felt confident that his next Pokemon would return the favor quite well… _

"_Fearow, come out!" _

_The Long Beak Pokemon, the favorite of the Gym Leader, appeared, crowing proudly. Although the Totodile drew back fearfully, his owner remained impassive to the new threat. _

_Save for one action- "Totodile, return." _

_And so the Big Jaw Pokemon once again disappeared into the depths of the red-and-white sphere, but his owner simply pulled out the other one in his possession. _

_Obviously, anyone with a brain would have known that the Gastly was coming right back out- Though with some reservations upon the sanity of the owner. _

_If it was already so weak, judging by how its gases were flickering as it floated above the battlefield, then why send it out? _

_The answer came easily. And shockingly. _

"_Gastly, Curse." _

_Falkner was stunned as the nail that came from nowhere sent the Gas Pokemon to the ground- And then, for an inexplicable reason, suddenly caused his Fearow to convulse in midair. _

"_Gastly is unable to battle," declared the referee impassively. "Send out your last Pokemon!" _

_As slowly as possible, the teen brought out his Totodile's Pokeball, and the purple-haired Gym Leader realized the purpose of this obvious stalling tactic- To allow the Curse to take as much of a toll on his Fearow as possible before he actually had to send his Pokemon out. _

_He wanted to yell for him to hurry up, but the only the referee had that ability- And there was no precursor for that order… _

_Without a word, he sent out the Big Jaw Pokemon once more. _

_Falkner was ready- "Fearow, Aerial Ace!" _

_The Beak Pokemon, despite its debilitating pain, rushed forward and smashed into the Totodile, who bounced away, yelping; the boy showed no emotion, save opening his mouth and with a hint of anger yelling "Water Gun!" _

_Before it truly got up from the ground it had already fired a stream of water towards the Beak Pokemon, who screeched as it struck its back. Falkner seethed at not seeing it earlier, and called "Assurance!" _

_Glowing a sinister purple, Fearow whirled around and charged at the unexpecting Totodile; the teen in a similar state of shock, in the end however managed to shout "Ice Fang!" _

_Although, Assurance being a move that packed more of a punch if the user had been hit right before, hit dead on, the Big Jaw Pokemon succeeded in, being about to fly into a wall, clamping down with his teeth glittering with frost upon its wings. Fearow screeched in pain, as the Curse renewed its effects; in addition, flying-types were obvious suckers to ice-type moves._

_So, as the Fearow sped off, heavily wounded in one wing, Totodile got up rather woozily- With a cold glance from its owner, it immediately stiffened and got into a battle stance._

"_Another Water Gun." _

_This time, Falkner called "Burst through! Drill Peck!" _

_Whirling around in mid-air, it reared backwards, as Totodile took in a deep breath. _

_And then, the Beak Pokemon blasted forward, spiraling as he went; Totodile exhaled, and with that came another thick blast of water…_

_Which was easily rendered apart; this time, the boy called "Jump to the side!" _

_The Totodile abruptly broke off from attacking and instead dived to dirt- Fearow followed, but the Curse came back into play, causing a spasm of pain to wash over the Beak Pokemon. _

_For one thing, that broke the spinning motion. For another…_

_It still crashed into Totodile- Hard. The two went sprawling through the dirt, with the larger flying-type getting up first, thanks to the unintentional concussion that the Beak Pokemon had given him. _

"_Get up." _

_Even Fearow, blearily getting to its feet, was frozen by the icy tone of the words. _

"_Get up. Now." _

_Everyone already in the building who was still talking now fell completely silent. _

_Slowly, impossibly, it obeyed- With one important difference from before._

_A blue aura was beginning to form around it, as its foe began to rise into the air, quite frightened by the change of the little blue alligator…_

"_Water Gun." _

_Despite its almost whimsical name, the Water Gun that was then launched was, to Falkner, anything but whimsical. It ripped through the air, smashing into the fleeing Beak Pokemon's back with tremendous force- Sending it barreling wildly through the air. Before the Fearow could do more than screech in pain, the teen had shouted "Bite!" _

_Abruptly breaking off from its Water Gun, the Big Jaw Pokemon charged forward, and with no remorse chomped down on the outstretched wing of his foe, who screeched again in pain… _

_And as per order of "Fury Attack!" succeeded with driving away the Totodile. Fearow took to flight again, but did it laboriously as both wings now had obvious teeth marks._

_And then there was the matter of the Curse, as the Beak Pokemon jerked violently in midair before it climbed higher, out of the range of any Water Guns that would be directed at it. _

_The clock was ticking. And Falkner knew it._

_So… _

"_Aerial Ace!" _

_If he couldn't win with a head-on assault, then he'd win by speed. The philosophy then had some physical evidence to back it up, as the beak ripped a gash on the Totodile's shoulder; before the teen could order something to counter, the Fearow was already soaring away. Seething, he then called "Use another Water Gun-" _

"_Aerial Ace again!" _

_Though the burst of liquid was certainly massive, it wasn't fast enough for the Beak Pokemon to dodge and hit Totodile once more before soaring away, in slightly better spirits that it was able to hit the thing and get away with it… _

_The boy took a deep breath- Going berserk was _not _the way to go here. It had already proved true against Ziri and Hannah- So obviously what to do? _

_He decided to stay silent for a few seconds. _

_Falkner fell for it. _

"_Aerial Ace!" _

_Fearow, after taking yet another hit from the Curse, dared forward- _

"_Ice Fang!" _

_For a third time the Big Jaw Pokemon, now covered with gashes, took a hit from the Aerial Ace. _

_With one hitch in its favor- As the beak ripped at him, he opened jaws glittering with frost, and clamped down upon. _

_On its neck. _

_Screeching wildly, the flying-type dragged the water-type along the ground as it attempted to regain altitude. However, Totodiles aren't called Big Jaw Pokemon for nothing, so his teeth only closed tighter around the neck. _

_Ice was beginning to condense around the neck, making it even harder than it already was for the Fearow to pull up- Now abandoning its efforts to get up high, it proceeded to peck violently at the thing grappling on its neck, with little success- _

"_Fearow, Drill Peck!" _

_With that, the bird began a desperate spiral that both flung off the Totodile and succeeded in granting back some degree of relief. _

"_Finish it, Fearow! Aim for that Totodile!" Falkner bellowed. _

_With that, the Beak Pokemon narrowly missed being jammed beak-first into the wall, arcing away with only inches to spare- Before the teen could order in confidence a quick counterattack, he suddenly realized that the aura that filled Totodile's eyes and blanked the Big Jaw Pokemon's skin was fading. Fast. _

_He gritted his teeth. _

_Was this going to be his third loss in a row-?_

_It wasn't. _

_The Curse, which had for so long plagued the Fearow, took its final reaping and, with a final jerk of pain, sent the spiraling flying-type into the clutches of gravity. _

_It took the referee half a second to realize that the Beak Pokemon was well and truly down- "Fearow is unable to battle." _

"_The winner is Totodile and the unknown trainer!" _

_The referee was just doing his job, yet Falkner could not believe that he'd been declared the loser- For the third straight time. _

_More than that, however… _

_He was confused by just how much of a mirror image this teen was._

_To Ziri. _

_Before he could contemplate further, the boy had walked across the battlefield at a surprisingly fast rate, and impatiently held out his hand. _

_Falkner instinctively reached into his bag and brought out the badge that the trainer in front of him had come for. _

_And then he blinked, realizing that the badge was no longer in his hand- And that the boy's back was already turned. _

_Like a ghost, he'd swiped the badge- And like a ghost he exited the gym before anyone could say anymore. _

Last night, he'd left Violet City- He had no more business to handle there.

And so, he was very much unaware that he was very much ahead of the gang of four behind him; besides, he didn't want to know. With light sleeping habits (Nowhere near the fitfulness of Ziri's nights) he got in total, counting the distance he'd covered during the night, a good ten hours.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon. And, in the distance, he heard the sound of helicopters.

* * *

Outside of the cave, the Beta Squad, for the last three hours and counting, had been alternatively yelling at each other for their idiocy and moping around in sullen silence- Currently they were in that mode.

They had most certainly noticed the distant sound of the choppers, as they whirled through the air, a few miles north- But they didn't care.

Their prey had slipped away. Twice.

They were still lounging around, not speaking to each other, when they received the most unexpected radio message.

"To any Team Rocket members in the area, speak up! NOW!"

The last part had come in so loud that they were struck silly before they realized that they fell into the classification of what had just been declared.

Jonathan spoke first. "Uh… This is the Beta Squad commander speaking. What's the reason behind that-"

He stopped when he realized that there was a sudden peal of laughter in the background. "Why are we laughing here?" he demanded.

"The-The _Beta _Squad?" came the choked reply of the speaker. "Is this a joke? Did somebody hijack the-"

Jonathan's face turned purple. "_Yes,_ this is the Beta Squad, and if you _don't shut up _I'm coming over and slaughtering all of you!"

His threat failed miserably.

"How're you going to do _that_?" came the mocking reply. "You're in the Beta Squad so I'd be able to crush you two seconds flat!"

Jonathan was forced to restrain himself from hurling the radio at the nearest tree.

Thankfully, Hugh snatched the radio from him, and said calmly into it: "If you guys don't shut up, then I'm afraid our commander will have to lodge a complaint with the boss."

"Oh yeah?" he guffawed, "Why would he listen to _you _guys-?"

"Because we've trapped Demetri Koslov in Union Cave."

Stunned silence on the other end.

"Now," Jonathan went on, quickly snatching away the radio, "What the hell is going on with the helicopters? And who is this, anyway?"

"This," came the grudging, slow reply, "Is the commander of the Violet City chapter of Team Rocket… And how do we even know that you guys are telling the truth-"

Hugh once again snatched the radio before Jonathan's silence at fumbling for an answer became painfully obvious. "We just battled him and drove him deeper in the cave… And now he can't come out."

Hugh only said this for the Violet City side, but it worked- Immediately there was frustrated sigh. "Alright, fine… Yesterday, we got blown up by Koslov-"

"Which we saw and you deserved," Jonathan muttered under the corner of his breath.

"-And," he went on, not hearing the snide remark, "when we tried to track him down, we blew up the Pokemon Center- But then this kid from out of nowhere popped out and ticked us off to the point where we stood a minute just standing there."

That was exaggeration- But now it was the Beta Squad's turn to have collective guffaw.

"And then, we somehow got lost trying to chase after the damned kid…"

What they were talking about was a curious bend in the road, which Ziri had completely missed in his blur-running antics. He did not see the finer shapes and figures when he did such- Rather, he preferred to blitz right through the gaps that he could see in his moments of tunnel vision. Since there was pretty much no human elsewhere in the world who could do this, he alone did not see a side path that was actually _larger _than the real pathway to Union Cave, so when the Rockets ran after him, huffing and puffing, they instinctively took the larger path.

Two hours later, they returned, and realized that there _was_ a second path.

But by then, police officers were already swarming the area, and the Violet City chapter of Team Rocket was instantly routed to an as-of-yet undisclosed location…

"Can you do something about it?"

Hugh looked over at Jonathan…

And was then surprised when he suddenly stood up and snapped his fingers, and then swiped the radio.

"Actually, we can."

"Which is…?"

"We planted explosives in the cave- We can detonate them anytime we want."

Silence- Which Jonathan decided to use as an opportunity to end the conversation.

"Over and out."

He clicked it off, and turned to face the rest of the squad he led. "What?" he asked innocently.

They stared at him. "We already blew the explosives," Jackson said, slowly. "How're you going to blow them up _again_?"

Jonathan only grinned. "Who said that they were the _only _explosives that I planted?"

"But… Didn't we plant them together?"

In actuality, Jonathan had had the rare insight into what might happen if they escaped and somehow was able to get past the first barrier of rocks that the squad had foreseen.

So, he took some _extra _explosives from the depot in Violet City in the dead of the night, and _then _planted them somewhere near the other side. To be sure, there were a lot less than at the front- But for the sake of their confidence, he didn't tell them that.

"Where's the detonator?"

Immediately, Hugh passed it to him; he looked at it jubilantly.

And then, at three-thirty that afternoon, Jonathan Almers did something that Ziri would never forget.

He pushed a button. Not just any button, but _the _button.

* * *

Inside the cave, for the first time in hours, Ziri finally saw Demetri.

So, the first thing he yelled- "Where the hell you been!?"

Demetri never got a chance to respond to that exact question, since the ceiling rumbled and sent the third shower of rock that day downwards.

Sooner or later, there wouldn't be enough rock in the ceiling left to call this place a cave anymore…

* * *

**That's that, guys. There's not much left to say... Except that my update schedule, with science fair data almost due and the Winter CD deadline approaching, looks like it'll be shot to hell. So, bear with me...**

**Remember to review. PLEASE!! With... Uh, beef lovers beware... Courtesy of suvi-sisko for this one... **

**ROAST MILTANK!!!**

***runs for it* **


	25. Left behind

**I'm going to warn you guys- This chapter is smaller than I wanted it to be, but I felt like I'd get nowhere, simply churning away at the keyboard.**

**Next chapter will be much better, I promise, so hang tight... And help me in praying for a lighter workload.**

**Without further ado, Happy Reading!!**

* * *

Ziri now well and truly regretted waking up this morning- No, he'd already done that.

Now he wished that he'd woken up at his normal time instead of seven. Otherwise, he wouldn't have wasted this much time…

To have gotten into _this_, the third rockfall of the day.

Ziri dived forward, as a large chunk previously of the ceiling took liberty of its attachment to the ceiling and whizzed downwards; looking up, in the dim light, he could only see a whirling, rapidly approaching wall of indistinct shapes…

That's when he realized that his Pokemon, not having as fast reactions as his (Though miraculously still alive), were behind him- And being forced to weave around the demonic hail of stone.

Without hesitation, he grabbed Aipom, who had been dashing towards him and was now whimpering in his arms, and threw her as unceremoniously hard as he could. The Long Tail Pokemon sailed away from him, screeching her displeasure; Ziri then took Bagon, as he braved forward-

Demetri had a slightly better time- He simply called out Scizor and ordered "Bullet Punch!"

Again and again, the twin pincers of the jabbed outwards, smashing would-be killer stones falling downwards; in the meanwhile, Demetri ran, with his Scizor easily keeping pace.

Ziri's heart sank when he realized that the next passage was going to be blocked, as the majority of rock was beginning the fall in front it- So, he wound his arm and hurled a rapidly chattering Bagon forward.

He dimly remembered having thankfully chucked Aipom in that direction but…

He suddenly felt Quilava cowering around his leg- Thankfully he hadn't been bopped by any falling crag.

Without any hesitation, he picked up the Volcano Pokemon- Just as a boulder slammed into the ground two inches from Ziri and would have bashed Quilava into a pulp if he hadn't picked him up.

As he braved forward, dodging any random flying chunk of stone that flew his way…

He was forced to stop, as the rockfall subsided.

No, not because of that- He was safe, anyway.

Rather, there was a solid wall of rock in front of him, where a passage to possibly freedom from this stupid cave had been previously.

From behind the wall of rock, where Demetri had succeeded in getting through with help from his Scizor _before _the passage had been sealed, he called "Ziri!"

"Yo! Thanks a lot for ditching me!"

At least he wasn't dead- "Are you injured?"

"Nope. Oh, and you see my Pokemon anywhere?"

Demetri turned around, and dead on cue walked out his shaken but generally unhurt (Despite Ziri's _very _accurate and _very _hard throwing skills) Aipom and Bagon.

Demetri raised an eyebrow, before from behind the rock wall he called "You have a Bagon?"

"Just hatched, dammit. Oh, and will you take care of them? I'm trapped here, if you haven't noticed."

A short silence, as Demetri processed this piece of information.

"I'll do it," he said finally, "but you better come out eventually or Luxray will slaughter them."

"I haven't been stopped by this kind of crap yet, and I never will be. Keep that promise in your head, because I've never broken one in my life."

With that, Demetri heard the sound of receding footsteps…

* * *

The boy walked on, only stopping for five minutes to join the crowd of reporters and policemen alternatively gawking at the destruction and getting down interviews with the witnesses.

He did not stay for the interviews. What did he have to gain? Besides possibly risking recognition and arrest…

Apparently some Team Rocket gang had decided to give chase to the outlaw Demetri Koslov and chosen to bomb the site of the Pokemon Center. There was resistance- The Nurse Joy had ordered her Chansey to engage sir head honcho.

For a good thirty seconds.

And then, right as more chaos was about to erupt, as the Chansey lay defeated, a kid stepped out, talked an incredible amount of trash, and left before anyone could stop him.

Witnesses claimed that he had left at speeds that would have shamed an Arcanine.

Although the police looked as if they were alternating from stopping themselves from a good chuckle and asking if they had taken a concussion, they noted that down- Before giving them meaningful looks about the two options already listed. For example, there was this question- "Ma'am, were you or anyone around you possibly under the influence of a narcotic?"

They hadn't- The boy knew all too well who it was.

So in other words, the two teens were on the same path. To Azalea Town… Except one of them now had Team Rocket breathing down his back in pursuit.

He chuckled as he left the sound of the choppers behind him- Why would Ziri now care about how _he_ treated his Pokemon, when he was too busy trying to stop men in black from getting the better of him? Not that it would be a cakewalk, the last part, but…

* * *

There was a whole other set of worries beside the one just mentioned.

For example, number one- How the hell was he getting out of this cave _now_, when he had no idea where he was, his only previous exit- If it was one- was blocked, and with one Pokemon with him?

For an hour more (Along a thankfully straight passage) he walked, careful to note any side passages- Yet there were none.

That was both worrying and relieving.

Worrying because there was the nasty possibility of a dead end just ahead- Relieving because there wasn't going to be any decisions on his part for where to go. So.

"Where _does _this thing lead?" he mused to himself, feeling the anxiety bite at his heart.

Quilava, mounted on his shoulder, nuzzled him reassuringly.

He sighed, stroking absentmindedly the rough fur and Quilava's head, and walked on- He wanted to be out of this stupid cave, ASAP.

* * *

Hannah and company did not have the dark fortune to be stuck in such a situation, as they walked on down the road, perfectly unaware of what was going on in front of them.

Ziri, in his berserker's run, had traversed almost thirty miles plus maybe two or three more in one day. They had traveled, in the seven hours since less than half of that.

Obviously, not having his near-superhuman endurance and strength, they were consigned to walking. And walking. And walking.

"Dammit, how far is Azalea Town?" Urya complained tiredly.

Ragnarok gave him an exasperated look.

"Well, can I float?!" he snapped at the unspoken admonishment, nettled.

It looked at him with a superior kind of air, and he groaned. "Man, now you're telling me to get wings…?"

Vigorously- And mischievously- The Iron Ball Pokemon nodded.

At this, Urya looked ready to explode. "You're going to pay for that, you-"

Yuki, his much more tempered Eevee, popped out of Pokeball and, before he could dive at Ragnarok, Tackled him in the stomach.

Everyone stopped, amused, as she then proceeded to turn to Ragnarok, currently looking as if it was the time of his life- And then subjected his eye to a Sand Attack.

The same trick had been used- The trick as in spraying the Beldum's eye with sand- When Falkner unwittingly ordered his Pidgey to bop the Iron Ball Pokemon dead on the eye. It still worked like a charm- Now both trainer and Pokemon were on the ground, one groaning, the other withering with silent pain, while a second stood over them, looking quite superior.

Hannah silently thanked whatever existed above that had never let her own a violent gang of Pokemon like Urya's.

Gale began dragging him along the ground, while the Evolution Pokemon began to prod and roll the unconscious shiny Pokemon towards the side of his owner.

All the while Urya's third Pokemon appeared, chirping happily at being out in the sun. Yuki merely gave him a disdainful look, to which Jackson the Porygon responded by zooming forward.

Yuki proceeded to jump out of the way with a Quick Attack.

In other words, Urya's skull was _almost _shattered by the Virtual Pokemon's all too enthusiastic charge- Howling, he jumped up before he fell over again, cradling his skull and groaning.

Five seconds of silence punctuated only by Urya's moaning, and they all burst out laughing.

Synthia was the only one who refrained on doing so. Remembering Ziri, she wondered if he'd ever had friends to share moments like this with, while the Virtual Pokemon floated around, chirping happily.

She wasn't sure what she felt at that moment, but it seemed suspiciously like guilt…

* * *

Demetri was lucky. Having a Pokemon that could bash through rocks most certainly helped him get behind the sealed passage, moments before it was sealed off.

An hour after he had left Ziri's company, with some reluctance (To his own surprise), he, for the first time since the hasty entrance into Union Cave, saw real sunlight.

Not that it was a mirage or anything, which only happened in deserts- But all the same, he was still suspicious. So, with Ziri's Pokemon padding along, he turned the corner.

No, he didn't even have the _right_ to be suspicious. It was a true exit to the stupid cave- One that temporarily blinded him.

After all, if you stay stuck in a cave for maybe four or five hours, don't you think that _any _sunlight would blind you?

Five minutes later, he, with normal, day-adapted eyes, stepped out into the orange light of the afternoon.

Four-thirty. He took a look back, wondering how Ziri was faring- But then, with a sinking heart, wondered if he had any chance at all.

Union Cave had only one known exit to the public, who abstained from going in there at all most of the time- And Demetri, to his eternal shame, had never sought to find any alternatives.

* * *

Five o'clock.

Ziri's desperation, although he tried not to show it to his only companion, was building to alarming levels, so that as time went by he was beginning to develop a clutching sensation in his chest.

Despite his attempts, it was showing, as Quilava nimbly (Having finally gotten used to his new size and strength) hopped upon his shoulder, giving off a pleasant warmth on his neck.

Sighing, he knew he couldn't just keep going blindly- So, he stopped, sat down, and pulled open another of those freeze-dried food packets.

"Eat up," Ziri said softly, "We're going to need it."

Quilava quickly began launching an Ember on a flat section of the ground that Ziri indicated, and it calmed him, watching the flames splash against stone.

He didn't know why, but he guessed he had an affinity for fire-types. In any case, a minute later he threw onto the patch of glowing red rock the packet.

Sizzling immediately, like its previously consumed counterparts, trainer and sat down.

He didn't know what prompted him to begin talking to Quilava, but all the same, he did.

"Do you know why I completely left town?"

Quilava perked up.

He turned his head and looked at his only companion still inside the cave. "New Bark Town, I mean."

Slowly, the Volcano Pokemon shook his head.

He sighed.

"I don't blame you."

"You just knew that I hated the place, right?"

Again came a nod.

He sat back against the side of the passage. "I don't know what happened. I really, really didn't know what the hell happened with my childhood. Did I even have one?"

Quilava looked at him with some confusion, which Ziri could only chuckle darkly at.

"Okay, so I _can't _blame you for not knowing what I'm talking about. I'm getting the feeling that nobody will."

He sighed, and began talking, more to himself than to Quilava. "I don't know who my father is. I've never seen his face, even though my mother's told me that I carry his looks."

"I know that I'm not a bastard child. I've seen my mother's marriage license, dammit, so I know that it's all lies."

"But who was he? Why am I carrying on the name of someone who I've never met, who never came back to the place he lived? If he had been there…"

Ziri was silent for a few seconds as he mused over what he was about to say.

"If he had been here, would I have sworn to never come back to New Bark Town? If I would have anyway, what would he have said to me?"

Quilava only sat beside him, drinking in his contemplations- Which he was glad for.

He was glad when the alarm he'd made for the cooking rang, breaking the silence- And making him wonder if the Team Rocket guys were in the cave, by any chance…

* * *

Demetri didn't try to move from the entrance.

Instead, he simply sat down, called out Luxray to keep guard, and in a warning tone told him to not eat any of Ziri's Pokemon.

Luxray, though slightly disappointed, immediately disappeared into the bushes, where faint rustling still registered in Aipom's ears, telling her that the Gleam Eyes Pokemon was busy stalking anything remotely close to threatening.

* * *

More to Demetri than the two Pokemon, one freshly hatched and the other hiding behind the newborn, but ignoring that fact…

They ate the oddly cooked meal in silence and simply sat there in silence, until Ziri shook himself free of the desire to just stay there.

There were still wild Pokemon in the cave- That one Onix wasn't going to be the _only _Onix in the cave, and Ziri had no desire to see more of them, especially since he didn't have his Hydro Pump-toting Bagon with him anymore.

He didn't have long to walk…

Before, fifteen minutes later, he realized that he was stuck in front of a wall.

A wall with rays of light filtering through…

So used to the dim light of the cave, if there was any light at all in some places, Ziri was forced to shield his eyes from it for a good five minutes.

Five minutes later, he looked, and realized with a sinking feeling, that there was a rather nasty problem.

The wall of filled with holes.

Okay.

The one thing was, the holes weren't _big _enough. For him, at least, but Quilava would easily wriggle through.

There _was _a hole that looked big enough for his semi-slim frame, but he wasn't sure- So, without another word, he walked up to the wall and began climbing.

The solid barrier of a wall had lots of outcroppings, letting him easily shove himself up; again and again, until he was a good eight feet up.

Two more feet to go- Four more handholds to shove himself up on-

And that's when, on the final outcropping of rock, it broke apart in his hand.

He was left suspended in surprise, while Quilava yelped in surprise and attempted to scramble up-

Ziri gave up- That had been the only handhold that was usable at first sight, and now that he'd broken it he jumped backwards, praying that the fall eight feet down wasn't going to hurt.

It hurt. Sort of, as he felt his ankles pop in protest. Well, no, it didn't actually hurt at all besides the popping, and that was his own fault from having not exercised his ankles for the last few hours. Quilava immediately jumped down from where he'd climbed and dashed next to him; with a groan, he told Quilava this:

"This is useless."

Quilava looked at him with apprehension, and suddenly he realized that what he had said was translated into saying as they couldn't ever get out of the cave.

That was not what he meant- Rather, it was, after the hurried barrage of "Sorry, sorry, sorry": "This is useless for _me_."

"You can still get out."

The Volcano Pokemon looked at him with confusion, causing Ziri to chuckle darkly. "See those holes?"

Quilava turned, looked at the gaps in the wall and then looked back at Ziri.

A second later, and Quilava's eyes went wide. Immediately he shook his head vigorously, to which Ziri sighed.

He'd expected this, and so said "I'll be fine- I'm good at escaping from places."

Quilava wouldn't budge.

Ziri sat in front of the weasel-like Pokemon.

"Look," he began, and though Quilava turned away, "Nobody's managed to trap me in _anything_ longer than ten hours, okay? Ever."

The last time someone had trapped him in _something _for ten hours, that had been when he'd been locked in the school by Norman and his gang.

The method?

Bushwhacking the janitor, grabbing his keys, and locking all the doors to the school from the outside.

Ziri, staying after school late, was clueless- Until he tried to open the door. And, leaving even later than teachers…

So then, for ten hours, from two to twelve (It was an early release day), he was forced to survive off leftovers from the cafeteria after hurried phone calls to his mother of no, he needed no help.

The windows were quite shatter-proof- The fact of which Ziri violently cursed at. So, he was forced to gather his courage, make a leap of faith of a few stacked desks, and jump into the ventilation chutes.

That took three hours, but then he came to barred opening that offered a tantalizing taste of the outside.

Thankfully, they hadn't been replaced since god knew when, so they were rusted to an impossible degree. Still, though, it took his an hour to kick his way out.

Thirsty, hot, tired, and aching in the legs, he persevered to the point where he pulled two muscles in each leg- But by then the frame had fallen out.

It was still hell walking home, though…

By then, it was twelve- Thankfully it was a Friday. Two days of R&R for his legs. And he told no one when he came back Monday, nor did he flaunt it.

The gang that had imprisoned him could only stare in shock at him when he strode through the front doors that morning, to the point where the slower ones were forced to get tardy slips for their lagging. A bit of karma, Ziri had figured, but…

Going back to now, he could see the reluctance in Quilava's eyes, but stared firmly back.

For a minute this staring contest continued, steel-gray human eyes against the red of the Pokemon- Before the Pokemon's head dropped in defeat, breaking off the staring contest.

Without a sound, slowly the Volcano Pokemon went over to one of the openings in the wall, where sunlight filtered through, and gave his master one last sad look.

With that, Quilava jumped out, and even the sounds of the Volcano Pokemon's light footsteps left the cave.

For five minutes Ziri kept sitting there, before the force of the promise got him to stand up.

He still had one more card to play.

If only the passage that he'd left back there went somewhere…

* * *

Fifteen minutes later- Or thirty minutes later, he was feeling panicked enough to totally suppress his perception of time, which was usually impeccable- In the ten hour stint inside the school, he'd never lost a sense of how many hours had passed.

But here he was, wondering if fifteen minutes or thirty had taken leave of the day.

Finally, he found the passage- And looking down into it, he was struck by the feeling that despite the utter, rotten events of the day he was going to experience something he'd never forget, despite how much he wanted to forget everything…

* * *

The Beta Squad had had no qualms about blowing the final set of charges.

There was, however, lingering doubts over exactly when the survivors were, for that matter, or even if there _were _survivors, so Jonathan took out his Abra once more and ordered a Teleport.

Having a good idea of the layout helped- They didn't want to Teleport anywhere _unpleasant_, per say, such as the various bodies of water that lay inside the cave.

Of course, there was the problem of possibly teleporting _into _a rock… After all, if you warp into a place, tearing holes in the fabric of the space-time continuum, then you had to able to teleport _into _things, rocks included. Poor guys… If that happened, at least.

For a brief second, the walls of the cave were illuminated- Then It faded back to darkness, as the four people that composed the Beta Squad appeared, along with one Abra.

"Man, the hell this cave have to be so _dark_-" Hugh began complaining, before he tripped over a small rock lodged in the ground. Cursing violently…

That was when the Zubat that had been chasing Demetri but had gotten lost popped out, screeching.

All of them, yelping, immediately scattered and tripped, currently lacking Ziri's benefit of having a fire-type that could illuminate the cave for them. Zubats, being blind and all, simply used ultrasonic waves- So there was absolutely no problem on the wild Pokemon's part as it gleefully dived towards the currently sprawling and moaning Jackson-

"Gligar, use Faint Attack!"

The recently sent out FlyScorpion Pokemon in Jonathan's ownership disappeared, before it proceeded to bop the rushing Zubat from being. Screeching furiously…

The Bat Pokemon whirled around and from out of nowhere launched a strange, pulsating sphere of light.

It struck the Gligar- Who blinked for two seconds, making Jonathan think it was nothing that the Zubat had launched, besides a kind of harmless light show.

It was at this point, however, that the FlyScorpion Pokemon suddenly flew into the nearest boulder- Hard.

It didn't _just _stop there- The Gligar then proceeded to randomly beat at anything in reach of its pincers, including its own skull.

Jonathan groaned- He'd fallen victim to a Confuse Ray, by this overzealous Zubat. His Gligar should have demolished it by now, but with its sudden desire to commit to masochism…

"Gligar, return! Let's get away from this thing!"

The last part was directed to everyone else, who hesitated to retreat from something unevolved and blind, for heaven's sake.

But at this point they were pretty much blind, having no way to see it, and this thing had eyes in the form of its ultrasonic-sensitive ears. So, without further ado, they sprinted in multiple directions…

Somehow slamming into bounders, each and every one of them.

As all four members fell backwards, cursing and rubbing whatever had hit stone (With the rock winning), a bit of luck hit them.

The Onix, from some four hours previously, woke up.

Roaring in fury at the memory of the little prick that had defeated it, it whipped its tail through the air, and by chance nailed the Zubat dead and center.

With a final screech that both echoed and faded away, the Bat Pokemon whizzed through the air like a baseball. Pardon the pun.

The Beta Squad was free of the pesky bat, but they weren't free from the blind wrath of the Onix, whose rampage was now beginning to generate another rock slide, judging from the shards beginning to rain down…

Thankfully, with their eyes now pretty much adapted to the dim light now, the four instantly saw the very same exit that Ziri and Demetri had taken quite recently…

* * *

Ziri hadn't gone more than halfway down the side passage that just might be his last hope for getting out alive when he realized that there was distant rumbling. Very, very distant rumbling…

He remembered the Onix from last time, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the rage that it must be experiencing right now.

Then he remembered his own predicament, and kept going straight, the mirth, whatever had been there, leaving his face.

* * *

**And that's that, folks! Sorry it's technically short, as I said last time my update schedule has been blown to hell and back.**

**I'm sorry if the pre-chapter and post-chapter segments are shorter than usual, but I'm just plain exhausted. Today was horrible, at least...**

**But, if anything, just... **

**You guessed it- REVIEW! With a Teddiursa doll on top!!**


	26. The unhappy chapter

This is where, in this narrative, there's a rather interesting break in tradition.

Three narratives will happen in the natural timeframe.

Two, however, will also occur in an accelerated timeframe of two hours plus. Think "time-splitting" on this one, and no I have never played one of the games. FPS? Please. They annoy me.

I'm sorry this chapter is a lot shorter, but heck life is difficult. Finals are two weeks away, and Thanksgiving break didn't help me- I had to study like mad over the five-day weekend too.

Whatever- Happy reading to all!!

* * *

Ziri was not happy.

Now, if there was one thing Ziri did not like, hated, abhorred, despised, and would reject with all demonic amounts obstinacy that he could muster, it was what was in front of him.

Water. Cold, rushing, freezing water that filled the air and his ears with the sound of liquids crashing over rock.

_This _is where his last hope led to?

The cave's light, while pathetic, gave him an idea of the direction of where the water ran to. From where he stood, at the end of the tunnel he'd been going to for the last thirty or so minutes, it ran from left to right. The stream turned away from where he stood as it went on, so as he craned his head he could see the rest of the stream as it flowed to wherever.

First, an experiment.

He went to the very edge of the water, knelt down, and tentatively dipped in his middle finger-

With a howl of surprise he threw himself backwards, clutching said finger.

That stuff was so cold that it _hurt_!

He glared angrily at the water.

He'd entertained the idea of jumping in, but the temperature he had just felt sealed the case for the resounding "No."

He'd get hypothermia in ten seconds in there, and he had no doubt that the water was fast- Who knew what he'd slam against?

* * *

Synthia was not happy- Especially after the events of the last fifteen minutes and pretty much the entire day.

It was still August, so the sun wasn't going to disappear anytime soon. And it was hot- Depressingly so, causing the group still going south to grudgingly call a consensus of an early, much needed stop. Under the shade, unlike where the trek had gone most of the day.

It was seven thirty when, mostly settled in and halfway to Union Cave, the Growlithe that had been set to the side and mostly forgotten woke up.

Hannah, having taken care of it for most of the day (And having aching arms to pay for it) was both first to notice and first to feel its incoherent wrath, when it bounded on her and bit her arm.

Being unconscious for the last eight to nine hours, however, did much to weaken its bite so Hannah, yelping and nowhere near having Ziri-esque strength, was capable of flinging it right into Gale, who in his surprise sent it flying dead into Ragnarok in the odd parody of pass-the-living-and-violent-parcel.

The curiously-colored Beldum took that without much difficulty.

What was difficult was the Ember that the Puppy Pokemon blindly spat out in the direction of where it had bounced off of.

The Iron Ball Pokemon thrashed violently in midair, to the point where it slammed into the tree in a spot right above (Conveniently) where Synthia's head was as she lay back against it for the sake of rest and relaxation.

Funny where the course of events now led...

Screaming, she immediately rolled away as Ragnarok, head stuck in the trunk of the tree simply quivered there; Urya ran over, intending to pull his best friend out of its predicament-

Ragnarok zoomed backwards having finally freed himself, the claws narrowly avoiding slicing open Urya's chest. He fell over in surprise- And no and behold, on the Growlithe that had started this mess.

For a second, nobody knew what to do as they stared at the wriggling mass underneath the twelve year-old.

Said twelve year-old solved the problem a few seconds later by rolling off.

The Growlithe bounded up, quite angered by its former role as a cushy, but had no more stamina to back it up- With a pitiful whimper, it trembled before it dropped to the side.

Hannah was the first one to run over- The rest of them were too repulsed to come over, judging from their near death experiences concerning this thing. Alex, who was currently missing from the clearing, didn't count- How could she get frightened of something that she couldn't see? Unless you were clairvoyant, but discounting that…

She gingerly picked it up, while it opened one eye and stared at her beadily, no doubt watching for any violent movements.

Now, where were some stupid berry trees. No doubt, if Ziri was here, he'd zoom away and come back in seconds toting an armful- But, mentally beating herself up for repeating the point far too many times that day, he wasn't.

"Will that thing ever stop?" Gale grumbled as he discretely began to scoot away from said Growlithe.

In response, the Puppy Pokemon spat an Ember at it, but just like at noontime the flames burned out before they got a foot from its nose.

"I don't think so," Hannah deadpanned, before this time she placed it in the middle of a thicket. It didn't have any thorns- She wasn't a sadist. Rather, it was for their own comfort that she placed it within the leaves and branches.

Did _anyone _want to be bushwhacked every ten minutes? At least this would hold the thing off before, Hannah knew, it got back enough of its strength to burn down the bush…

* * *

The Beta Squad was _not _happy.

They had come into the cave to mop up and bring back Demetri Koslov's body. Okay.

But then they were dealing with an insane Onix, second. First up was the violent Zubat that gave them so much hell and high water.

Thankfully, the second issue resolved the first, mainly by sending it flying to god knew where…

But then the second issue immediately expanded and filled the slot of the first, because in the angry thrashing of the Rock Snake the cave began to pretty much completely disintegrate in that area.

The four members, plus Jonathan's Abra who floated around in its sleep, were busy dodging ever crag of rock that would turn them into a paste if contact was made; which wasn't too hard, considering that only a few chunks were coming down every thirty seconds.

What was a problem was how _big_ those stupid pieces were, big enough to cause the ground to rumble and in turn actually cause more of them to fall. Talk about a domino effect, except these dominoes were lethal.

Hugh had a solution- "Machop, Rock Smash!"

The Superpower Pokemon, though small of stature, jumped up and smashed an oncoming boulder with a glowing fist- Strong enough to shatter it in much smaller pieces. The one problem- Those pieces blasted out in a radial pattern, prompting the rest of the squad to yell abuse.

"Stop doing that, ya damn nitwit!"

That was Michel- A foul-mouthed, but mostly silent member of the Beta Squad. He was not one to waste words- But, obviously, when he wanted to speak he did so… Shall we say, _colorfully_?

By all means he was worse than Ziri's foul mouth, but it wasn't know very much, given how much he seemed mute most of the time, save in battle.

But now, when death seemed a little too close for comfort, nobody cared save Hugh. "Can't you see I'm saving our necks here-" he began angrily-

It was at that point a rock slammed into the ground no further than a foot away, causing him to scurry away behind his furiously Rock Smashing-Machop. "Quick, cover me-"

"Quit doing that!" Jackson yelled, rather frightened, "You'll kill us while you save yourself!"

Ironic that usually he'd be saying some old proverb about karma and how death would come to him if he caused death to come to _them_, if he had slightly more courage than his already small amount.

Despite his bulky frame, he was rather timid, to say the least…

"Aww, man up already! Those pieces are nowhere big enough to kill us-"

As he said it, a Rock Smash sent a rather sharp fragment flying right towards Hugh's head- Which barely missed.

The world literally stopped as everyone stared at the quivering shard of stone embedded in the wall- And went back to normal speed when a chunk of the former ceiling smashed into the ground on the other side of this particular cavern.

They could still hear the fury of the Onix in the opening right behind them, still sending tremors rolling through the cave-

Jonathan decided to act before they died and had nothing to act _with_. "Abra, Teleport us out of here!"

The Psi Pokemon only needed a second to think of a place in space-time before all the living beings there- Pokemon and humans- disappeared in a bright flash of light.

* * *

Demetri was not happy.

Being forced to babysit Ziri's Pokemon was the least of his troubles- Rather, it was the heat that forced him to take off both coat and mask and get under the cover a tree to the side of the road. At least, if anyone came through, they wouldn't see him…

And that wasn't the worst of it.

It was more like the internal turmoil that was going on inside. Had he done right in letting Ziri remain in the cave? He could have ordered one of his Pokemon to rip through the barrier of rock that separated them, two hours ago or so.

He could have ordered Gardevior to teleport through it, and then bring him over. That would have been much safer…

Except that there was one exceptional problem- Ziri had left far faster than thinking could catch up with Demetri.

Since he had done nothing, had he just consigned the boy to his death?

_An hour more_, Demetri decided, _And I'm going back inside_.

* * *

The boy was not happy. Well, more with himself than with his surroundings or anything else, but it still signified unhappiness.

He reached the entrance of the cave at eight o'clock, at night. Well, not really night, but the sun was half-way down beneath the horizon.

He had been pressing himself all day, to the point where he felt that every bone in his body was aching from exhaustion, nothing more and nothing less. Nor had he gotten any food to eat…

Starvation was good. The more you did so, the more hunger afterwards you could take.

His Pokemon- He'd simply let them out on the short, ten minutes breaks he'd taken throughout the day and let them forage for themselves. No need for him to be a babysitter, who coddled and fostered weakness.

In the back of his mind, though, he wondered If he was unconsciously but deliberately fostering a paradox.

If babysitting a Pokemon made it weak, then why did he always lose to Ziri… And by extension, Hannah? Besides, the last person was a coordinator, not a battler- He wondered if there was some hitch to his methods.

The boy knew it- Though he hated Ziri, the other teen was stronger than him.

He sat down- Hard. He knew he'd never be able to get to Union Cave in dim light, making the report shadows even more intensely black.

"Get out of find your own food," he said coldly to his two Pokemon, who immediately complied, not wanting to find out what happened if they didn't.

In the meantime, he sat there and figured out the various possibilities that the gym battle in Azalea Town would hold for him.

Apparently, this… _Bugsy_ person as per his name was one who fanatically followed the bug-type.

Gastlys were both of the ghost and poison-type, both with resistances. Therefore, if he tried using any bug-type moves, the boy was confident of, he'd find that they would have little to no effect whatsoever.

What else was there…?

He might attempt to use some sort of psychic-type move- The boy was not stupid in guessing what moves a Pokemon could learn. Several bug-types could have a psychic-type move up their sleeve- But then he'd simply send in his Totodile and let it whale away, being the physical fighter that it was.

He'd had it all down, until another variable showed up. Fifteen minutes later.

* * *

Ziri was debating quite heavily whether to take his chances and jump or go back and find another way out.

When, however, fate decided for him.

Suddenly he heard a strange sound behind him- And a flash of blinding light.

Slowly, he turned around, and if anything his heart instantly felt a sickening sensation.

_Not them_…

Ziri was brave, but he wasn't stupid. He was knowledgeable _and_ wise, which was a rare combination.

So, when he saw the Beta Squad, he realized that he had two choices.

One- Get captured by Team Rocket. Not his cup of tea.

Two- Jump into the water.

Now _that _was well and truly insane. He'd _felt _the water, and it had been so cold that it had hurt.

But he got the feeling that if he jumped in, he'd feel a lot less pain than becoming a captive of Team Rocket.

So, he whirled around, and backed up a few steps; before any of the four could open their mouths (They had been shocked to see him as well), Ziri had taken the leap of faith into the water.

It was a loud splash that was both loud and huge, to the point where it actually drenched the Abra that had gotten the Beta Squad here. By now, the Team Rocket members simultaneously yelled "Wait!"

One problem.

The current had swept Ziri off to the unknowns of the cave.

They all stood there, the remaining four, all staring at each other in openmouthed-ness.

Finally, Jackson broke the silence.

"Did… Did he just-?"

"Yeah he did, blindass," Michel snapped as he got over to the bank of the stream. "This is underground, so the water's got to be cold as he-"

He then screamed the moment his fingertip touched the water.

Ignoring the stream of profanities, Jonathan took that as a sign that the water was beyond cold. More than likely frozen…

"How's he going to survive?" he voiced out loud.

"I don't think he will," Hugh said.

Silence as they all contemplated, with a slightly sick feeling, what might happen to the teen…


	27. Out of the freezer

_Finally_, I stopped procrastinating- And look what happened, I went back into epic-chapter mode. Garg, I guess this is to make up for the delays and excuses that I was forced to pathetically give- My finals are looking pretty good- With the one exception of precalculus. Who _needs_ precal, though, anyway?

On the second note- This shall conclude the Union Cave miniarc! Thank god for that- I sorta realized I was lavishing this section with too many details, but this _is _an important part of the story. Anyway- Kyuuketsuki Fang, WTF did you go? I need to talk to you!!

To the Triumvirate of Rei- Team Rocket will be violently savaged- In a few more chapters, right after Ziri and co. savages Bugsy. Bugsy does bug types *cough*Flamewheel*cough*Quilava*cough*

So, without further ado- Happy Reading!!

_

* * *

Cold._

That was the only possibly coherent thought that Ziri could get out at the moment through his brain, which had literally seized up when his head entered the water.

_Cold_.

The water was strong enough to carry him swiftly away from the Team Rocket cronies, which was good- All of his muscles like his brain had frozen on contact with the water.

It was that chilling, and fifteen minutes submerged within he was faring little better in adapting to it.

At least, he could now form sentences with his mind- Like, _Am I ever going to get out of here?_

_I'll get hypothermia within fifteen minutes, at this rate..._

_Thank god I managed to eat something before I jumped in. _

Extra fuel for body warmth.

_Where's Quilava when I need him…_

Ziri knew, however, that more than likely it would be worse for the Volcano Pokemon, whose natural body warmth would be sucked out even faster than Ziri's. Fire-types naturally had high-body temperatures.

You do not throw them into twenty-degrees Fahrenheit water without having malice or sheer idiocy in your mind first, because fire-types have hell maintaining their body temperature in those conditions. Case closed. So it was only wishful thinking on Ziri's part.

He'd had too many close calls to count, with all the rocks in the stream's path- One had come close enough for Ziri have gotten a shallow cut on his right arm. It wasn't enough to bleed, which was a relief, but it stung nonetheless.

Or would have, if his limbs weren't so numb…

Ziri kept pushing on, but it was more letting the current do it for him, since his legs _and _arms were next to useless. Next to useless did not _mean _useless, since he still had a degree of control over them that allowed him to stay afloat.

But, as previously mentioned, there was no way to guide himself. So he was at the mercy of whatever came up next in the stream-

_Wham_.

That was when he hit a rock. It was a glancing blow, but enough to send him spinning through the water.

It was then that the current suddenly accelerated, and Ziri's numb mouth wouldn't let him make a final yell before a messy death-

It was then that he smashed onto sandy slope with such force that he rolled _upwards _five feet before he stopped.

It took his sluggish brain a few seconds to comprehend the fact that he was out of the water.

He slowly shoved himself up, his muscles now adapted to the cold- Somewhat. He wondered what he felt like to another person.

He knew he was cold.

To another person, he must be freezing…

He was now in a kneeling position, with his back thankfully straight. Knowing that the water in his clothes would actually drain out the heat of his body faster than being in the water, he had only a minute- If he was lucky- To plot out where to go from here.

To his surprise, the area around him- Though depressingly enclosed- Was actually quite bright, compared to the rest of the cave. Though he didn't have exceptional eyesight, at the very least he had top-notch normal eyes (Though he read religiously when he studied he always held it at a safe distance thanks to an instinctively irrational fear of myopia), enough to see that further downstream there was pretty much nothing to be worried out.

No rocks, thankfully for another fifty feet out.

He'd been in for, unknown to Ziri, fifteen minutes now. And he was already half-frozen solid.

The question wasn't if he'd make it out. The question was, would he actually be able to get through _this_?

Thirty seconds- Well, now or never. Already feeling the clamminess of his clothes, in contrast to the otherwise cool air of the cave...

He took a deep breath, and with what little strength he had regained in his arms flung himself into the current once more. Headfirst. That was how weak he was.

In normal times he'd take a few steps back and jump in with much gusto, even hollering at the top of his lungs.

But he was running from crazy Team Rocket sons-of-bitches, so he wasn't exactly that keen on showing off- Besides, he had little time and little strength to waste…

* * *

The new hitch in the plan arrived with a bang.

The boy was jolted out of his contemplations by a sudden, earsplitting screech; when he looked up, after covering his ears, he realized with shock that it was a Zubat.

It had come flying out of Union Cave.

He had no way of knowing that this Zubat was the same one that the Onix inside the cave had smashed its tail into, hard enough to send the light body of the Bat Pokemon halfway through without stop. Confused, in pain, and above all enraged it blindly sought out anything remotely in the shape of human.

Sprawled on the ground, the teen looked just the target to its ultrasonic wave-sensitive ears.

With another screech the Bat Pokemon dived forward- Grunting in surprise, the boy rolled to the side, yelling "Totodile, Gastly, come back here _now_!"

The Zubat swooped low; finding its target gone, it turned, intending for another dive-

"Confuse Ray!"

The sinister purple light of sorts flew right towards the Zubat- Who promptly began to fly around in a crazed, uncontrollable fashion.

"Good god, where'd this thing come from," the boy muttered.

At that moment, the Zubat did the impossible- It shook off the confusion and sent forth its _own _Confuse Ray, this time at Totodile.

The Big Jaw Pokemon was the one thrashing around now, and his owner was not happy, but could do nothing at this point. "Gastly, Lick!" he commanded.

Although the Gas Pokemon _tried _to swipe its dripping tongue over its foe the bat simply flitted away, only to return with outstretched fangs-

Said fangs them clamped down upon the loosely condensed sphere of gas, bringing forth a rather strenuous moan of pain.

With a jolt, the boy realized that this had to be a Bite attack, and ghost-types were weak to dark-type moves; "Get out of there, _now_!"

The sphere that signified that it was his Pokemon that had the fangs clamped on it temporarily lost form, before it reformed, safe from harm. For now.

"Night Shade!"

From the large, disjointed eyes came twin beams of reddish-purple energy that struck the Zubat, sending it whirling backwards.

"Now use-"

The words never got to leave his mouth before a burst of visible waves of sound, coming from the mouth of Zubat, struck his Gastly dead on.

For a second, it looked like no harm had been done.

The next second, the Gastly began slapping itself with its tongue, to disenchanting disproportionately large effect. Meaning, how did flopping your tongue on yourself hurt?

If you were a ghost-type, though…

The boy slapped his forehead.

What were the odds of a Gastly falling for a Supersonic twice in two days?

* * *

The current was stronger here- Whether it was because he was going deeper, or simply because the water pressure was higher thanks to a more narrow channel, he didn't know why. He prayed it wasn't the former- That would mean that he was going farther and farther from the surface.

Ziri, however, knew that a narrower channel, the other alternative, was just as dangerous and if anything a lot more painful, thanks to a greater tendency to bash himself against the wall. There weren't stray rocks here- That was a relief.

And that's when his shoulder smashed into the wall after a particular sharp turn- Enough for his numbed jaw to open and yell instinctively, "Owww, dammit!"

At least he hadn't lost his sense of humor.

But there was more to this, because as the curse echoed through the cave…

* * *

The rest of the gang of five (Counting, but not counting Alex) were furious.

"You are _not _keeping that thing around," Synthia raged, "and I'll throttle you if you do!"

Hannah, however, holding on to the Growlithe in question held firm. "_You're _the one who gave me the potion to use on it… And now you're going to just throw it off to the side?"

"That was before I knew it was lethal!"

"Wait," Alex interjected, "_has _it killed anything-?"

"That's beside the point!" Urya and Synthia yelled at her, which immediately caused Alex to cower.

Urya, giving the Puppy Pokemon a nasty look, said "I'm going to say that we need to boot that thing into a few trees then leave it."

Even Synthia, on the side of the abandoners, looked slightly sick at the suggestion- But on the other end of the spectrum, Hannah looked positively enraged. "You would do _what_?" she screeched, going into Misdreavus-mode (The way that you could tell, besides looking at the frightened faces of the ones under thirteen, was the ringing in your ears that wouldn't fade for hours); "This poor little puppy isn't going _anywhere _unless I say so, you son of a-"

Gale cut in before she could permanently stain the hearing organs of the children. Though staying around Ziri most certainly had that effect, he still tried. And failed, but. "Can we settle this before we really start hurting each other?"

"No!" Hannah and Synthia yelled, while Urya was too paralyzed to say anything.

Gale immediately backed away.

_That was helpful, _he thought morosely to himself as he watched the bickering unfold once more.

* * *

It was at this moment his Totodile managed to shake of the mild bout of disorientation and stand up; taking note of the fact that the Bat Pokemon hadn't seen him yet, the teen shouted "Ice Fang!"

The Totodile bounded upwards- But, like so many surprising things about this Zubat, it managed to "see" the attack before it came- Barely- And flipped out of the way. Even worse, it fired forth another Supersonic burst dead at the oncoming Big Jaw Pokemon-

For some odd reason, it failed, the sound waves passing Totodile with no effect. In any case, the Big Jaw Pokemon jumped at the bat once more, this time succeeding in scraping a fang across an outstretched wing. Ice immediately from the blossomed from that long point of contact; the boy blinked, before realizing that the sound waves must have slowed down thanks to the cooling effects of the ice that had gathered in Totodile's mouth on the surrounding air…

"Water Gun!"

That was instinctive, but it worked. Burdened by the newfound mass (Small, but still) of ice upon its wing, it was nailed solidly by the stream of water. Whirling through the air in a lopsided fashion…

It was then the victim of a lucky Pokeball throw. The Bat Pokemon turned into red energy before the energy itself was sucked into the sphere that had succeeded in striking it- Only then did it fall to the ground.

The Gastly, its confusion newly shaken off, floated up; the world seemed to have stopped at this point.

Three wobbles of the Pokeball. Three flashes of light in the button at the very center.

And it stopped.

The boy took a second to comprehend the fact that he'd caught the pesky Zubat that had evaded defeat by Demetri and the Beta Squad; not that he knew the last part, but still. It _was _an achievement.

The teen sighed.

Grudgingly, he told his Totodile "Good job."

The Big Jaw Pokemon blinked in surprise.

For good reason- Technically that was the first words of praise that he had uttered in all two weeks of "owning" Totodile.

* * *

Ziri was buoyed further into a cave. Ten minutes after he'd taken the second jump in, he still hadn't stopped. He was now beginning to, despite his best efforts not to, shiver violently.

Shock wasn't far off into the horizon, so he needed to get out soon…

Otherwise, fifteen years and (Currently) counting was about to go down the drain…

* * *

The final agreement was this- Hannah would keep the Growlithe, but would be responsible for everything- _Everything_- That it did. This included burning anything alive (Ragnarok included), the local woods, ect.

Next on the list- Anything that was bitten, she'd be responsible. Though they weren't sure how she'd fix that, they did that anyway out of spite.

Next, and finally- If something happened to it, then nobody could or would take the blame.

Essentially, it was war of attitudes and general dislike, but…

Hannah took it silently, though it was an obviously one-sided deal. But those were the only conditions that the Growlithe could stay along, and she personally felt it was… Cute.

She wondered if Ziri would have taken the same deal, but she instantly dismissed that thought as she stalked off. Of course he would- When a Pokemon was on the line, he'd always put it above himself.

Hannah blinked.

_Why_ did he do that anyway?

* * *

Quilava spent twenty minutes getting his bearings right after getting out of the cave. Mainly, twenty minutes mindlessly ambling around, worried for his master, when Luxray bounded out of the bushes, snarling.

"_Well? Where is he?_"

Quilava didn't respond, which prompted Luxray to roar at the Volcano Pokemon. "_I said, where is he_?"

Still no response.

Alternatively enraged at being apparently ignored and slightly disturbed by the sad air clinging to the weasel, the Gleam Eyes Pokemon opened his mouth threateningly, fangs cackling with electricity.

"_Talk, or I'll_-"

"_He's still in there._"

Luxray blinked twice.

"_**What**_**?**"

"_He made me go out first_," Quilava moaned, cradling his head in his paws. "_He told me that he'd be out soon, but…_"

Luxraywas too stunned to look frightening, but he did look rather comical with an open jaw that began drooling. Quilava, however, too depressed to notice this rare moment, went on: "_I don't even know if I'll ever see him again_…"

* * *

Demetri was seriously beginning to feel violently agitated when he heard rustling in the bushes where Luxray had disappeared some forty minutes ago.

A second later, said Gleam Eyes Pokemon popped out, this time accompanied by- To Demetri's complete, utter, and total disbelief, Ziri's Quilava.

A second later, getting over his initial feelings of total disbelief, he realized that the Volcano Pokemon had an air of…

_Shame_ around him?

Immediately striding to where they were, Demetri, stoking Luxray, affixed the downward-looking Quilava with a critical gaze.

"Where's your trainer?"

Quilava slowly looked up, and Demetri was struck by the desolate look in his eyes.

Slowly, the weasel nodded towards the entrance that Demetri had only exited recently.

The outlaw, for the first time in years, was truly, absolutely, and totally stunned.

"He's _still _in the goddamn cave?!"

Then a disturbing set of thoughts flashed onto him.

"Did you abandon him?" Demetri said suspiciously.

Quilava looked like he could kill in the next five seconds, before somehow reason told the skull within that Luxray was right by Quilava's side and would immediately rip the Volcano Pokemon in half before he got two inches off ground.

However, Demetri got the message- And realized that neither human or Pokemon had abandoned each other. Which meant it had been a mutual- Though one-sided, judging from Quilava's air of guilt.

_Ziri must have made him do it_, Demetri decided.

More waiting, then, while Quilava dragged himself towards Ziri's other Pokemon.

* * *

Ziri took another five minutes letting his luck guide him, before his luck turned nasty.

As he took another sharp turn, he saw the dark outline of a rock only a few feet in front of him-

He tried to flail wildly with his numbed limbs, but they barely gave any help at all, save for preventing his arm from being ripped open by a particularly sharp crag that jutted out into Ziri's intended- Well, involuntary- path.

But it didn't stop that same crag from cutting open his arm- A shallow one, to be sure- But one that slashed all the way around his arm, and drew blood.

Ziri barely felt it, but he knew something had happened when his arm gave an involuntary jerk. The darkness prevented him from seeing red, but he did see something in the water that wasn't the liquid itself.

And then, he was slammed up- Again- Along another sand bar.

As he lay there, gasping and shaking his hair free of water, he heard splashing that was strangely out of rhythm with the stream. Looking downwards, in the direction that he'd just come from…

He saw them.

Their eyes had a strange glint to their fish-like bodies- But what got his attention more was their teeth that jutted up out of their lower jaws. There were somewhere around ten of them, and…

They were all staring and swimming towards him.

He knew that anything with fangs and a suspicious glint in its eyes was bad- So, he began scrabbling backwards up the sandbar.

Just in time; the one leading the pack suddenly jumped out of the water, fangs bared, and landed on the sand, wildly flailing.

Ziri's leg shot out, with surprising force for all the numbness, and sent it back into the water.

Scrambling up even farther, he suddenly realized that there was no higher ground to climb up to. At least, when he turned his head…

He discovered, to his relief, a dimly-visible tunnel that seemed to go upwards, along with another from which water fed into the pool of water which he was in- But he wasn't sure. And, to his right (Facing the way he'd come from), was another channel where water sloshed downwards further. To his left- A solid rock wall.

At least he now knew he had two ways _not _to go- Backwards and left wards- When facing towards his last hope.

But there was one problem- In his weakened state, how could he get up the unknown tunnel?

He'd find a way- Desperation, though an unpleasant emotion, was an _amazingly _good motivator.

But what was behind him again? And how had they found him-?

He, with violently shaking fingers, pulled out his Pokedex- Which, to his surprise, was perfectly dry.

The backpack that he had been carrying with him had been waterproof?

Another testament to his father- But now was not the time.

Ziri did _not _like the entry that he heard.

It said: "**Carvanha, the Savage Pokemon. These Pokemon, attacking in packs, have enough power in their jaws to destroy boat hulls and sink them in minutes. It is vicious, but when alone it is timid and shy." **

The only thing that he could think of was:

_Bullies_.

_These things are nothing alone. Just like humans. And __**them**_.

The anger sent heat surging through his body, so he immediately threw the Pokedex back into his backpack, zipped it up in a fury, and hurled himself into the current- Going into the other direction, to be sure- And surfaced, no longer feeling the cold.

With his feet touching the bottom, he began slogging through, not caring about the splashes that echoed through the cave.

Someone had heard his violent bit of profanity earlier- Now, that… Person, if you could say that, was sure of someone there.

Ziri still knew nothing about it- But this state of mutual ignorance wouldn't last very long. In any case, the tunnel wasn't that steep- And it looked to have some rock outcroppings that weren't too sharp. So, crawling along, and braving the water that was beating his already numb face-

He suddenly realized that there was something splashing behind him.

He turned around, to behold the pack of Carvanha that were steadily fighting the current in only a few feet behind him.

Beset by a new feeling of panic, he began crawling faster, scrambling for handholds- Until he suddenly felt no handhold underwater to grab. Frantically scrabbling for another, he realized in horror that he had no chance in hell further crawling up.

That left one last option.

With a grunt, he hurled himself backwards, dead into the pack of Carvanhas. Surprised, they let him pass in their shock- And before they knew it, he was already halfway back to the sandbar.

He threw himself onto it and again scrabbled up, before he noticed a trickle of some other fluid glistening on the sand.

_Blood_.

With a start, he looked at his right arm. And there, he saw the fluid trickling down onto the sand.

Blood carried, along with the oxygen need for humans to function, a large amount of the heat content of the body.

And with the slash on his right arm, which also ensured that the swarm of Carvanha that was in front of him, staring, wouldn't lose his scent as long as he was in the cave, what heat remained in his body would be lost even faster as it flowed out of the open wound.

There was no other verdict. He accepted it, mind and body as he flopped listlessly backwards.

He was going to die here, and god knew what would find his skeleton years after his spirit had exited the world.

Unbidden, he began yelling curses, both rage and an all-consuming heaviness making his numbed, barely coherent limbs thrash violently despite the fact that he himself could no longer feel them.

* * *

Alex had seen the man.

But she had actually seen him twice, under two guises.

The first guise- As someone who did ferrying services across Johto and Kanto. He did this on a Drifblim.

Now, normally the Blimp Pokemon would be buoyed away by the winds, but the man, who appeared loud, boisterous, and quite ignorant of Alex's general stress at being precariously beneath the Blimp Pokemon in the basket underneath simply ordered it to use Ominous Wind every few miles through the air. The recoil was usually enough to send it in the direction that was needed- Well, it always did. That day, the winds were rather quiet. The day that Ziri and the boy had had their first clash.

The second guise- Under one "Doctor Kinard" that Francesco had been working with for the last two months.

He, by the memory (Poor but decent enough to be sure) had worked in both Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Johto before coming here, which was true.

The one feature that didn't appeal to the famous old guy? The fact that he had some kind of chest problem that prevented him from doing _too _much fieldwork at a time. But it was enough to satisfy Professor Oak, enough to give him a position as one of his top aides.

Technically, he was young- Only about thirty-five or so. But why did he have some sort of constricted chest or something? That just didn't make _sense_.

But humans usually never do, and eventually they learn to accept them as normal.

This man was now striding down Route 31, and had only been doing it continuously for the last five minutes, mainly because he'd used his Drifblim to surf through the air. Usually he would have done it all the way to Union Cave's entrance, but…

The winds were blowing south, but suddenly the winds had reversed direction, so rather than waste time and wait for another direction change he simply got off, returned his Drifblim, and began walking.

The boy was simply sitting in some bushes to the side of the trail when the sound of the man's heavy boots broke him out of his contemplations.

Peering out, he couldn't see his face well; it was hidden by the tall collar of the thick trench coat that reached upwards from his neck, so that the only way to get a good look at his face was to go head on. And, for some reason, they boy had no intention of doing that.

There was some… _Weird _about the air around him. It was alternatively filled with heavy malice, mixed in with the second, odder ingredient.

He had some sort of _philosophical_ air about him, as if he was some kind of great thinker in thought.

If that was true, then how was he weaving around the various stones embedded in the road, swerving right and left with disturbing ease? What phobia did he have of them, anyway?

* * *

Ziri just lay there, his throat sore from the curses that he'd yelled uselessly through the air.

Well, he _thought _they'd be useless.

Two minutes after he'd given up all hope of escape, he realized that the thrashing of the Carvanha in front of him had subsided. They had been, ever since he'd gone still in preparation for death.

So why were they stopping now?

So, he looked.

He couldn't believe his eyes.

* * *

The man- Well, for the sake of simplicity, let's call him- For now- "Doctor Kinard"- Was not phobic of rocks. He was somewhat in the range of obsessive compulsive disorder, but it did no harm, besides make him look weird.

In public. This was in the wilds, and nobody in the right mind just lay, sat, or stood by the side of the road all the time vacantly staring at the occasional traveler- If you did, you better get yourself checked out.

He now stood there, simply standing in front of the entrance. In reality, he was secretly checking out the footprints of the Beta Squad, who had rushed in hours previously.

He was not another vigilante. Far from it- He was a far cry from Demetri as possible in terms of doctrine. The only similarities were their methods and the fact they worked alone. Well, in this case this guy did it most of the time, but, unlike Demetri, he could deal with being in a group.

He now fished out a radio from within his trench coat, and said clearly- "They were telling the truth, they're in there."

It cackled to life. "So for once, those guys _did _do something right…"

"Surprise," the man chuckled darkly, then he went dead serious. "I'll begin the mop-up operation right away. How long will the team get here?"

"ETA an hour. Daylight's fading through, so maybe we should postpone this…"

The man was silent as he considered this; finally, he said, "Fine. I'll just search the cave until tomorrow."

"With no back-up-?"

"Do you know who you're talking to?"

The person on the other end of the radio was the Team Rocket commander of the Violet City chapter. He had enough authority to order around the Beta Squad- True, they were pathetic, but as a squad they were only one slot down from a commander's post just like all other squads.

But this man was more than the equivalent of five, and he knew just how much of a post he held with the organization.

And, perhaps more disturbing, the amount of influence.

"Uh, yes… But, I was just worried about the possibility of Team Rocket losing a valued asset-"

"I'm no asset, just an extremely powerful human being, thank you very much. Tell the mop-up crew to wait until tomorrow if you must, but I do whatever I please. No objections."

With that, he flipped the radio off and marched in.

The boy, who had remained frozen since the exchange began, finally began attempting to piece together what the hell he had just seen.

This guy was involved with Team Rocket. Okay.

Apparently, this guy was incredibly powerful and was of high ranking. Okay.

Mop-up crew? What the hell?

He got the strangest feeling it might relate to Ziri. However, he realized: Good riddance.

If Ziri was out of his way, his life would be much easier…

* * *

A horn on the top of its blue forehead. Curled up ears, that look ridiculously both in and out of place. A long, very much stretchable neck.

Four flippers. A cream-colored underbelly with a spotted dark-blue, mostly light blue color pretty much everywhere else. And then there was the shell atop its back, covered sparsely by blunt spikes.

What the hell was this thing, by far one of the largest Pokemon Ziri had ever seen, doing in this cave? It looked far too big to fit through the tunnels- But, then what had just slipped out of one that he hadn't noticed, one that branched into the same path the one leading upwards did as well?

He could only stare, and ten seconds later after it first appeared in his vision, it began staring right back, steel-gray versus brown-black.

He was unnerved by the degree of the intensity its eyes held- But at the very least he won the staring contest when the Carvanha began to violently snap at the newcomer.

"_Go away,_" the one in charge snarled, "_He's __**our**__ dead meat_!"

The Lapras gave them the look as well.

Which, telling the truth on this one, they'd been on the receiving end dozens- Even hundreds- Of times before.

One of the brasher members of the swarm gathered enough courage do jump out of the water and jump towards the calmly-floating-

Its mouth opened, and from within, light-blue energy gathered in a sphere in its mouth before flying forth, zapping the Savage Pokemon in mid-air.

Instantly, it was surrounded by a thick layer of ice, which plonked- Along with the victim inside- Into the water dismally.

Instantly, it was buoyed away deeper into the cave; the remaining members of the pack swam after their beaten brother, casting dirty looks all the time that somehow told Ziri that this happened more than just once in a while.

The two- Human and Pokemon- Were left there alone. And, inevitably the staring contest resumed.

It was at that point Ziri got a tingly feeling around his scalp that this Pokemon was doing more than just trying to beat him in concentration.

Deciding to for once find out what it was, he, slowly, with even worse shaking, got out his Pokedex once more.

Immediately, it chimed, to his incredible surprise:

"**Lapras, the Transport Pokemon. These large Pokemon inhabit the seas in large pods, and are known for their incredible abilities of singing beautiful melodies. However, being on the verge of extinction in the wild from both hunting and capture, their songs have gained a mournful tone as they seek out what remains of their own kind.**"

He had not broken his stare, but the entry almost did.

_Inhabits the seas…_

What was this one, then, doing here?

And, if they were pretty much almost extinct, why wasn't this one singing like the entry called?

Or maybe…

He pressed the button for more information.

"**These Pokemon are widely known as well for** **high level of intelligence- Enough to match humans.** **They also have, in some rare cases, strong mental psychic abilities**."

Ziri now wondered, as they continued to stare mindlessly at each other, about the tingly feeling. Was that a sign of-?

_

* * *

She knew._

_She knew everything about him now. _

_She saw him- Brilliant, strong, daring, reckless. _

_Alone, enraged, bitter._

_She was almost overwhelmed by all she saw; could these all possibly be inside a human?_

_Humans were and are emotional creatures. _

_But to have all of these swirling around inside at once; she could not fathom how he was still sane. _

_And she saw his history within his mind, one which did not forget a single experience, but simply locked them away into the depths and recesses that he contained within him. _

_A mother, which he was both perpetually at war with and at the same time the caretaker of. _

_A town which rejected him for reasons he was forced to be blinded to- Until so recently. _

_A person in his life, splattered with blood, that drowned him in anguish. _

_And, she could see- He did not come here to claim anything as his- He was simply running from…_

_

* * *

_

Ziri, through his blurred vision- Shock was approaching, fast- The Lapras violently jerk, once more breaking off the staring contest.

For a strange reason, it seemed like surprise- But what was more surprising was when the Lapras then swam towards him- Quite quickly- And turned ninety degrees so that its side brushed against the sandbar where he was still sprawled upon.

He blinked twice in confusion, before he remembered the species name.

Transport Pokemon.

Did this thing want to give him a joyride through the cave or something?

_Better than staying here_, Ziri thought, now remembering the gang of Carvanha. The Lapras wasn't going to stay here forever, judging from the impatient looks it was giving him, and when it left sooner or later the Savage Pokemon would come back and try anew to eat him again.

So, he began _trying _to crawl forward- But the cold had by now drained almost all his strength. He struggled in vain to bring his legs into the effort, but the sand easily absorbed his efforts to move forward.

How was he going to even get off this stupid sandbar, let alone stand up and get on its back?

The Lapras, seeing his helplessness, solved the problem for him.

In an instant, he felt himself being pushed upwards, by some weird force- But, though it was and felt weird, he didn't argue.

As long as he floated onto the Lapras's back, where he was gently dropped and they departed…

They, instead of going down the tunnel from where the Transport Pokemon had appeared, went up the tunnel that had evaded Ziri's attempts to go up.

Now he realized it.

This Pokemon, for once out of the man he had newly encountered today, wasn't trying to kill him- Rather, it was leading him up to salvation.

But…

"How're you going to get past the rocks?" Ziri slurred (From the fact his jaw was slowly going completely numb), remembering the handholds that had appeared to give him a way up; now it seemed that they'd only in the end impede them.

The Lapras, even as it turned into the tunnel leading up, gave him a look.

The look said: _You think I haven't dealt with it before? _

And even as it looked at him, the eyes began to glow an odd purple, and he felt the two of them slowly lift off the water- Just enough to pass right over the jagged, upward-jutting outcroppings.

And then, the light dissipating from the pair of two intelligent black eyes, it turned back to the front.

He couldn't resist checking his Pokedex on this one:

"**Psychic, a move of its namesake type. The user exerts a telekinetic force to attack; a larger range of Pokemon is capable of using this move, strangely enough, than its similar, although weaker, counterpart Confusion.**"

_Weird… _

_But as long as it works_.

He lay back, and took off his shirt- He knew he'd have to wear it again, but for now it went off before the water in it claimed more of the heat inside of him, whatever was left. Draping across a spike he lay backwards and realized that there was barely any rocking, though he heard the roaring of the currents.

_No wonder these things are called Transport Pokemon…_

Comfort when he might die- Quaint.

It didn't take long before he felt the Lapras gently nudge something- Hard.

He looked up, realizing that they were on some shore- Which had, on its far end what looked like a crawlspace…

"Where does this go?" Ziri managed to mumble. "Does it go out?"

The Lapras looked at him and nodded- In a solemn manner, he noted.

"Thanks," he murmured, but then managed to crack a shaky grin. "Could you- C-Could you use another Psychic-?"

The cold was catching up to him, forcing him to stop- But the Lapras instantly understood. Eyes glowing purple once more, Ziri felt himself (He swiped his backpack and shirt before they were lost on its back) float upwards again, buoyed by some unseen force; then, he was slowly propelled forward, right in front of the hole.

He turned one last time to the Lapras, who had even given him a soft landing- "Thank you," he called softly as it began to turn away.

It gave him one last, unfathomable look before it swam away in earnest.

He shook the water out of his wavy-brown hair, and realized that most of the water had flowed out of his blue cargo pants; thank god for the waterproof material.

And thank god for his waterproof backpack…

* * *

Demetri was fed up.

No, it wasn't the fact that it was hot even without his coat on and being forced to babysit four Pokemon that barely knew what they were doing. Never mind that Togepi was annoying him to death.

It was with the fact that no matter what he tried to tell himself, he was becoming _very _worried with what exactly Ziri's fate was. Death? Still stuck inside? Or maybe making his way outside as he was contemplating exactly what the hell was going on?

He was going to find out. Abruptly he stood up, shocking Luxray who was busy pacing around. "Wait here," he said loudly, and from his hiding place in the bushes- Just as a precaution- He strode back into the cave, the blond hair matted with sweat across his forehead instantly being blown apart by the rush of air from inside Union Cave.

He stood there, for one moment.

And then he went inside.

* * *

It was pure and utter agony trying to crawl through.

Not that his arms were feeling pain from exertion- No, he was long past that point. Rather, it was the sense that no matter what silver lining in the cloud he found another cloud found its way in front of him.

He'd been crawling for some fifteen minutes within the tunnel, and though he couldn't see a thing, he knew he was going agonizingly slow.

Every thrust of his arms only brought him forward something like an inch; his legs weren't doing much to help.

_How long is this thing…_

Nothing. There was nothing to search, nothing to look for, nothing out of the ordinary.

The entire passage that he'd gone through previously was perfectly- As in perfectly- Smooth. No outcroppings, stalactites and stalagmites, or even indentions jutted out from any angle.

Which meant- He was going to have to smash the barrier of rocks that the rockfall had so perfectly placed in front of him, blocking access to the rest of the cavern.

He was about to bring out his Scizor and smash through it- When he realized the utter futility in the effort.

One- Who knew what the shockwaves would do? Though he could no longer hear the Onix, the cavern behind the wall of stone was more than fragile enough to come crashing down if anything too big reverberated.

Two- This place was annoyingly huge- There was absolutely no guarantee that Ziri was somewhere behind this wall. He could have wandered into a billion different places by now, and Demetri would have no way of knowing.

So, the best way- And most logical- Was to just go back outside and wait. Which Demetri did. Reluctantly.

* * *

Ziri forced himself on. And on. And on, until finally he noticed the beginnings of a burning sensation in his limbs.

_That's good_, he thought grimly to himself.

In the meantime, since he now could _feel _something other than the cold (His shirt was stuffed into his backpack), he had somewhat greater control over what his arms were doing- So, although his sense of time, long shot to hell, estimated incorrectly that he'd gone for thirty minutes, in reality he'd gone for forty-five.

_Keep going_.

Easy enough to say- In this case though, incredibly hard to follow.

A general clamminess had descended over him; even though his skin was numb it still crawled at the feeling.

Shock, which he had managed to put off for so long, was calling- And Ziri had the feeling that it was too impatient to ignore this time.

Again, and again- Grabbing the ground and throwing himself forward. This approach had left him with too many bumps on the head to count already, but now he was rattling his skull every other thrust.

After one particularly nasty thud to the head (The low ceiling dropped unexpectedly here), he lay there, panting not from the heat that he was generating- But from the sudden disappearance of his limbs.

No, not _actual_ disappearance, just within his nervous system.

_Hurry up_.

_No! _The other side of his skull yelled.

_Do you want to die here? _

_Maybe I do! _

_Wait, __**here**__? Do you __**know**__ the chances of someone finding you? And then, what's the chance of you getting recognized as the "boy who on the run from Team Rocket found a Lapras who helped him and then gave up and died"?_

_You don't know the chances either, and it's not always about fame- _

_People always look for it. It's in everyone's blood. It's why you began this damn trip- _

_My __**mother **__did it! _

_But you had to consent, didn't you? _

_If I'd been a normal kid-_

_But you're not. And you know it. You score 100s on finals in any subject, even in the college courses that they were dumb enough to teach since New Bark Town is a town of idiots._

_There was- _

_Let's not talk about her. _

Silence, as the two halves of Ziri's mind contemplated their next arguments.

Finally-

_Do you know what will happen if you die? _

_No, and since I'm going to anyway I don't want to. _

_Well, listen to this freakin' hypothesis first- One, my- Yours- Our- mom will take the dirt nap in horrific despair. _

_That's nice, because we won't be here to see it- _

_Okay, that's it. Shut up. NOW. _

_Like hell- _

_Two, what about the people you've met that __**haven't **__tried to kill you? _

Silence.

_I rest my case. _

With that, Ziri let out- After five minutes on the ground- A roar more animal than, and slammed both palms into the ground, effectively shoving himself upwards.

Now, low on the ground, he began to violently scramble forward, growling in a fury while he was at it-

Demetri, still trying to wrestle with his guilty conscience almost back to the exit, heard something.

It wasn't human, and was not Pokemon either. It was of something that had completely lost all emotion.

Well, all emotion save _anger_. And any other synonym you could think.

_

* * *

Damn you damn you damn you damn you-_

That was the two words, being cycled over and over again through Ziri's head as he vengefully threw himself through the tunnel.

No, he had not gone insane, Rather, he'd just gone closer to insanity, so discount that.

Anger had replaced everything.

Anger at the walls, for not breaking down at first touch. Anger at the ground for not just letting him fly forward. Anger at those damn Team Rocket members.

Even anger at the Lapras, for not sending him far enough forward.

And even as his eyes registered the fact that there was light in front of him, he kept going.

_Damn you damn you damn you damn you- _

And even when he saw that there was a rock in front of him...

_ Damn you damn you damn you damn you-_

He kept going.

* * *

Demetri at that moment, cautiously going forward into where the tunnel opened up right in front of the exit (And being blinded from it as well), heard a thud of something hitting something else.

Namely, a sound he was familiar with- Bone against rock.

Unknown to Demetri, the bowl-like chamber right in front of the opening of Union Cave _did _have another tunnel running into it.

There was a boulder to someone's right side, that was pretty much fused with the passageway. Okay.

There was a second boulder, however, that was placed conveniently right by the first at a forty-five degree angle away from the walls of the nearby passage. In effect, if you stared at the pair from the entrance- Exit, in this case- Then you'd think that those two were blemishes in the smoothness of the natural bowl-shape of the "room."

But, in reality, the two formed a kind of cove- So, when Demetri decided to fiddle around and come in around the _left _side of the cove, he saw facedown- To his utter and complete disbelief- Ziri, hair matted with both blood and water, and naked from the waist up.

Demetri immediately went down to his knees, checking for a pulse. Finding one, he breathed a sigh of relief- Before he realized just how frozen solid his skin felt.

_Where the hell has he __**been**__!? _

There was, however, no time for contemplation- Quickly grabbing him- And pulling out his backpack through the tunnel as well- He slung the boy over and on his shoulder, and quickly ran out of the cave, for what he hoped would be the last time that day.

* * *

Finally, that's a wrap! Azalea Town is next- Thank you to those who've supported me all through my finals, schoolwork, crazy teachers, and the like! Thank you!

Oh and don't forget to review... Please? Pretty please?


	28. Thawed

**I can't believe that even with winter break, it still took me seven days to write this thing. I swear I'll write faster and have another posted before the end of next week- This story needs to really move along faster- Although, I did have an awesome Christmas dinner, which robbed me of seven valuable hours... But at least the food was great.**

**In any case, I got... THE METROID PRIME TRILOGY, COLLECTOR'S EDITION!! W00T!! It, however, has robbed me further of time to write, but hey, it is **_**great. **_**BUY IT. No, Collector's Edition's too awesome for ya, with the metal case and stuff.**

**Anyway, Happy Reading!**

* * *

Outside, Demetri was met with silence.

Then, his eardrum exploded. Quilava was first- He, being the lithe Volcano Pokemon that he was, spring atop Ziri, even on Demetri's shoulder, and flared up his flame vents in an attempt to warm the boy.

Aipom slung on Demetri's _other _arm, before grabbing Ziri's neck (Which was dangling forward) and attempting to revive him with some slaps of her paws- To no avail (No, she wasn't trying to Fury Swipe him).

And Togepi, it just waddled up- And chirped happily at the return of happiness, while Bagon looked rather shy at being there.

"Get off already, will you?" Demetri growled, annoyed at being treated as a playground.

Aipom jumped backwards, shivering slightly at the coldness of his skin- Quilava stayed on, however, determined to warm his master to the end.

Demetri sighed; turning his neck (It was difficult, since Ziri's body was in the way), he said "You can't do much for him here, you know" in an insistent manner.

Quilava slowly retreated, hurt but knowing that he was right; Demetri, then turned his thoughts towards Azalea Town.

The first thought and problem- He'd have to use Gardevior to Teleport him there, since there was no time to waste with Ziri's hypothermia. That was easy to solve.

The second thought and problem- How was he going to, once he got the Azalea Town, get Ziri admitted into the Pokemon Center or wherever? There was no way that the Nurse Joy would let him enter, with his (Well deserved) reputation for slaughtering anything and everything alive in his sight- No, with the mask on, nothing could be accomplished.

Even if he appealed to the famously compassionate nature of the Nurse Joys, he would leave quite the mark on Ziri- And that he didn't want.

Yes, he would have to do the option of last resort. Sighing, he called out Gardevior, and ordered the Teleport. Without further ado, all inhabitants of that clearing in front of Union Cave- the Azalea Town entrance- Were surrounded by a multi-colored light that was predominantly white, before a literal hole in space-time opened for them.

The Embrace Pokemon closed her eyes, and in an instant they were gone.

* * *

The man was not surprised to see many passages blocked off- That was what you got when you took liberty with how much dynamite you stuffed in a cave.

What annoyed him was the fact that the cave had been rendered so unstable today that any attempted clearing would have to be performed _very _carefully; and that's what he did. Slowly.

He called out another of his Pokemon- Well, two of them, this time a Nidoqueen and a Pinsir.

"Use Strength- And make sure you don't cause the cave to fall on us."

Immediately, the pair got to work lifting and placing offending boulders to the side- And since they were a pair, in a mere five minutes the main passage that Ziri had managed to slip through hours ago was pretty much open once more.

With that, he curtly nodded to his Pokemon, who bowed, and then followed him further in.

* * *

Gardevior warped them into Azalea Town dead in front of the Pokemon Center- Demetri opened his eyes after the mild period of disorientation, letting the automatic doors slide open- After all, they were designed to sense movement and then open, not to sense people Teleporting in from who knew where.

This gave him three seconds to (1) return Luxray and (2) to prepare the lie. Already, his shoulder was beginning to feel like a block of ice just _touching _Ziri- And besides, he was violently shivering as well.

He rushed in, Gardevior following, and confronted the startled Nurse Joy. "Take him to the infirmary, _now_!"

"I- I- I-" she stuttered in shock, before she regained composure. "Why is he shivering like that-?"

"Will you get a thermometer and measure it already?" Demetri practically snarled. "He's so cold that_ I'll_ get frostbite on my arm if you don't get him off!"

She shook her head in confusion. "Alright, but-"

She motioned for the Chansey on duty with her to get a stretcher, and pulled out, of all things…

A clipboard.

Demetri resisted the urge to scream at her- _This _was one of the reasons, in his opinion of why the law was horrible at actually doing anything even though this wasn't the law. The bureaucracy.

"What's his name?"

"Ziri," Demetri replied with gritted teeth.

The stretcher arrived, pushed along by two Lucky Pokemon, and Demetri quickly deposited Ziri's limp form on it.

_At least they're efficient_, Demetri thought as he watched them wheel him away.

"Alright then," the Nurse Joy said, "What happened? Don't tell me frostbite," she added, preempting a violent response from Demetri, "because this is the summer, and this place is mostly for inexperienced trainers who don't have truly powerful Pokemon, ice-type or not, that can freeze a person to a degree that you mentioned."

Demetri sighed- She had a point there.

"He fell into the… Water inside Union Cave," Demetri quickly fibbed, knowing that there _was _water- And that there were many individual droplets on Ziri when he found him.

The Nurse Joy looked at him suspiciously. "Are you telling the truth? Because the water underground rushes at very high speeds- Besides the blood on his arm and head, he looked perfectly fine for someone who was more than likely battered around for maybe thirty minutes. _If _he was even in there at all. And then…"

"How did you find him?"

Demetri had the response ready- "I don't know how he survived it, but I found him washed up on one of the shores in the tunnels. The current must have carried him there, I guess…"

She still looked at him suspiciously, but let it slide, despite its paltriness.

"And your name is?"

This was the moment he was dreading.

Demetri Koslov was infamous.

But _he _was not Demetri Koslov. It was just a cover for performing deeds that he knew were generally condemned despite the services he was doing for the population.

No, he'd have to, in this place, go by a name he hadn't gone by in years.

"My name is Bale Anderson."

He was relieved that she hadn't recognized his voice- He'd sent more than enough tapes and videos talking about ultimatums to the police ("Execute this prisoner or," "Capture this man within the next twenty-four hours or else…"), but that was in a cold, calculating toneless voice. Now, he was busy talking to her in a rushed, annoyed, and urgent tone.

Far-cry from his normal self, but…

As long as it worked.

It was then that the alarm bells in the infirmary began blaring, which prompted the pink-haired nurse to rush away- Demetri- No, Bale- took the chance and followed her.

Inside, he saw Ziri stretched on a bed, with many sensors strapped to his skin- And there was one, very nasty reading from the digital thermometer.

The normal body temperature of humans was thirty-seven degrees Celsius.

So then, how had Ziri's temperature dropped to _five_?

The Nurse Joy looked paralyzed for a second, before she turned around and saw Bale in the doorway. "Leave, please," she said in a trembling voice, "this is a very serious situation-"

Ziri's Pokemon, right behind Bale, suddenly bounded in, with Quilava jumping on top of his master and flaring his back in a desperate bid to warm him. She was stunned at this- Before she sighed at the implied request that the ones on the floor gave her through their beseeching gazes.

"Yes, you can stay… But you," she snapped, pointing to the other human occupant of the room, "have to leave."

He was going to anyway, but the firm tone made him zip out the door like nobody's business.

"Now," he murmured to his Gardevior, once again inside the lobby,"we need to go some place private."

She nodded, and to the envy of all the trainers in the lobby, who had looked on with shock ever since this whole crazy incident started, both she and Bale strode up the stairs to the rooms- With a catch.

They hadn't even been given a key yet, but crashing for the night was not his intention.

As the two went down to the end of the hallway, however…

"_You're being awfully protective of the child_," she said suddenly via telepathy.

Bale sighed. "He sort of reminds me of, well, me… When I was younger and went by this name."

Then he turned. "Are you saying we should just go ahead and leave him behind? We could- He's never seen me behind the mask, and…"

He hesitated. "How did we get into this mess. Team Rocket was after him, and I thought that was reason enough- But now I'm going as far as to using my real name to get him into here-"

"_Whatever you did, my old master would have been right behind you. And…_"

"_So will I_."

He nodded thanks as they reached the solid wall at the end- So, Bale went down to business. "In case I have to explain further to anyone, I need you to look through his mind and give me what you see."

She nodded, and with glowing eyes the Embrace Pokemon got an odd, faraway look.

In an instant, she and Demetri seemed to fall through a multi-colored hole, as the walls around them faded to nothing-

Quilava was on top of Ziri's chest, feeling the copious amounts of heat flow into his master- And that's when suddenly, he was forced off- Violently- When a spasm ran through him.

It had been a fortunate insight that the Nurse Joy had sought to strap him down, for the bed, violently jerking, didn't allow him to roll right off- Otherwise, she would have screamed cold bloody murder trying to get him back on the bed.

Quilava and Aipom exchanged fearful glances- They alone remembered the only time that any moments of spasticness when Ziri was unconscious was when someone was trying to enter his mind…

The descent into someone's brain, which _Demetri_ had experienced hundreds of times in his vigilante-ness, which often involved interrogation, took a rocky turn when suddenly, they were rattled and the rush of lights went into stasis.

"What just happened?" Bale demanded in surprise. This had never- Ever- Happened before…

"_He's… Resisting,_" Gardevior told him, shock evident in her mental voice. "_I can't believe any human that's caught unaware could do that… Ugh!_"

Suddenly, Bale fell to his knees as he felt them rush upwards-

And then they stopped, Gardevior panting, eyes still closed.

"_Unbelievable… He… He just __**shoved **__us back…_"

"What?" Bale stared at her in disbelief.

As if to reinforce that inference, his stomach lurched again as he saw the lights going _down _instead of up.

"Can you win against him?"

"_I… I can't…_"

Bale realized that that was a dumb question- If she could have beaten him in a battle of minds, the Embrace Pokemon would have gotten them in far, far sooner.

"Talk to him!"

"_What_?"

"Talk to him, explain why we're here! Maybe he'll stop!"

The psychic-type nodded- Anything was worth a try.

_Haven't I gone through this before? _

_Although I understand why my conscious self cannot sense the presence of others trying to pry my mind open, I'm still ticked off that they won't stop. _

_I lost the last one, mainly because everything hurt like h-e-double hockey sticks. And whoever barged in was strong. _

_But now, though I'm cold, frozen, and numb to the point where I can't sense much anymore- And I'm pretty easily shoving them back. _

_Yeah, this time whoever's doing it is weaker. A lot. _

_While I hover at the limit of life, please don't disturb, you sons of bit- _

_Wait a minute… Is someone talking to me? _

_Oh yeah… Asking for some of my memories. Nicely. _

_Like I'll ever do that. I tell them no. _

_To myself:_

_These are memories that should never be given to the world._

_I'm guilty. I deserve to keep them inside. _

Gardevior opened her eyes. "_He refused…_"

Bale gritted his teeth. "Did he tell you _why_ he wouldn't give them?"

She shook her head, still unnerved-

_You know what… _

_Which set, exactly, do they want? _

Gardevior stiffened, and immediately closed her eyes yet again.

Bale blinked- But decided to keep silent in this landscape of minds. This more than likely was a delicate stage in the proceedings…

_Okay. Those memories? Nasty, incredibly painful, and odd, but by no means overly important like… Those. _

_This one, I'll make an exception. _

Gardevior opened her eyes.

"_He's going to let us in-_"

At that moment, Bale's stomach for the third- And technically final- time that day lurched violently as the "floor" dropped from under them…

* * *

The Beta Squad spent five, guilty moments of silence in remembrance of that annoying, pesky, and insane teenage before they slowly got up and slouched out the tunnel leading- Well, up. There was only on tunnel from that shore, and it led directly…

Into a wall. Jackson was the victim of an annoyed shove of "Why can't you go any faster" and barreled dead into stone. However, his large composition made him bounce, and that sent all four members half down- Backwards.

After much violent cursing and insult-throwing, they picked themselves back up- And, luckily for them, chose to go left.

Eventually reaching the same cavern that Ziri had been- Temporarily- Reunited with Demetri, they saw- Well, there's no better word for it- _Him_.

Immediately prostrating before him, the four members of the Beta Squad fell _barely _short of kissing his boots; "Um… Mister… Mister field commander Malachi, we weren't expecting you _here_-"

"In this pathetic, dingy cave?"

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Surprise. Now, I want to know exactly what happened here."

"Um… We… We tried to trap Koslov, but apparently, he escaped-"

"Like always, I presume?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Well, you have to admit he's wily as hell. Now… Where, exactly did you come from?"

They told him. And when they had finished, the field commander "Malachi," as this particular guise was known as, stroked his chin thoughtfully.

A stream of water underground- The source of the rumors of haunting, beautiful songs flowing through the cave?

_Looks like an opportunity_…

"Scram," he said curtly, "And say that Koslov escaped. Don't bother with trying to defend yourselves, tell them you delayed them long enough for me to track him down."

The four, who had initially looked terrified at the suggestion of bluntly stating that they had failed, now looked as if they'd found paradise at the second part- If something helped the field commander, than all was good.

* * *

Ziri finally stopped spasming, finally giving Nurse Joy a chance (Without having to worry about crazed flying limbs- Well, she never did with the straps, but) to inject his antibiotics shot- Just as a precaution. Humans worked either way- Too much heat, and their immune systems fail, and too _little _heat and their immune systems fail anyway. Go figure.

* * *

Bale and Gardevior began with that particular slot of memories when Ziri had run for it, right after the first rockfall that the Beta Squad had triggered.

He saw the ground move up and down as he- They- ran, ran, and ran until they were stuck so deep that he sent out Quilava for light.

From there, suddenly everything accelerated-

"What's going on?" Bale asked in shock as like a fast-forwarded tape the world that they could see rushed by. He couldn't see Gardevior, but that was because he was seeing this through someone else's eyes, after all…

"_He's accelerating the memory, because maybe nothing of value happened-_"

They finally slowed down, and the first thing Bale noticed, through Ziri's eyes, was a suspiciously long chain of rocks.

Inevitably, his Aipom _had _awoken the Rock Snake Pokemon…

To which an egg stored in his backpack, which Ziri had forgotten to tell Bale- Well, at that time, Demetri- about, proceeded to hatch, revealing a Bagon.

Which saved his bruised hide, as all his other Pokemon knew either useless or ineffective attacks against the thing- Because for some odd reason this thing knew Hydro Pump, which it turned on its much bigger adversary with a vengeance.

"_That's _where it came from," Bale murmured in shock.

And another case of fast forwarding, until- He saw _himself_, mask, red coat and all, being seen for the first time- And as if by design, at that moment yet another rockfall happened, the rockfall that had gotten them separated.

Ziri was strong, Bale noted, as he saw through the boy's eyes how he hurled three of his Pokemon with pinpoint accuracy- Quilava simply refused to leave him in any case.

As Bale strained to hear the conversation that they had just before they parted ways, they suddenly fast-forwarded once more…

Until they- Ziri- reached a wall, holed enough so that sunlight filtered through.

He tried climbing- Tried being the key word- but to no avail, as the stone, rotted and weakened since who knew when, broke down _just _as he was about to climb out. In any case, Quilava, urged on by his master, reluctantly crawled through on the smaller holes in the wall, causing Bale to smile ruefully.

It pays to be slim. And if he remembered his lessons from long, long ago, Quilavas were the smallest of all beginner Pokemon that had evolved to the second stage.

In any case, the memory fast-forwarded once more, and finally Bale saw the exact reason why Ziri had gotten his deathly condition- The roaring underground current.

Then, another annoying moment of sped up time-

And suddenly, time slowed down, the process of restoration to normalcy happening just as a light flared through the cavern of which Ziri was in.

He turned around- And there, along with the advent a sinking feeling Demetri realized wasn't his, was the Beta Squad.

And then Ziri jumped, and suddenly Demetri felt like he'd been shoved into the world's most powerful freezer- which was really just some water rushing along underground.

More fast forwarding- Which Demetri was thankful for, since less exposure to the damning cold. A sandbar that temporarily halted progress-And then back in to the water Ziri had went in this review of memories.

Until…

Yet another sandbar- with a catch, noting the swarm of Carvanha. Bale, as Demetri, had had plenty of nasty encounters with the Savage Pokemon in the various seas he had traveled, and wasn't surprised at the appearance of them here. For some odd reason, they often got themselves into the weirdest of places- Which caused much stress for the unlucky inhabitants of those places.

But apparently there was one resident neither bullied or annoyed by them. At least, that was what Ziri's memories told Bale. Unless he was- Or more reasonably put, Ziri was- hallucinating, he was seeing a Lapras gliding from literally out of nowhere.

Calmly Ice Beaming a Carvanha that was violently miffed at having their chance at eating some fresh meat interrupted, it proceeded to do one of the most humanitarian things Bale had ever seen- It swam right up the sand bar and turned its side to the stunned Ziri- Who only after some psychokinetic help from the Transport Pokemon was able to climb aboard.

Another fast forwarding- Bale noticed now a pervading clamminess over him- Ziri, really- which was in reality the fact his clothes, still waterlogged, were taking the heat out of him.

No wonder why he, obviously knowing that fact, took off his shirt…

More fast-forwarding- And thankfully for that, in no time, they'd gotten the point where Ziri was forced into the crawlspace. And in any case…

_How in the world had the Lapras known about this? _Bale wondered.

Anyway, they'd reached a point where Ziri appeared to have collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. As they- For an odd reason- remained in real time…

A wash of anger came over him so powerful that suddenly, he felt like lashing out to _kill _at whatever was besides him-

But then time accelerated once more, and the feeling left Bale feeling rather ill. At least, it wasn't his anger but Ziri's.

And then, in real time, Bale, watching the sudden acceleration in crawling speed, realized in horror that there was a rock, outlined by daylight-

Ziri kept going.

At least, that's what he did fifteen minutes ago- To the point where he smashed his head against that boulder and fell unconscious, blood running down his face afterwards.

* * *

The world returned suddenly.

As Ziri's sight faded to black, the oncoming rushes of darkness became in turn filled with the colorful walls of the Pokemon Center.

Bale was on his knees, with Gardevior leaning against the wall- Both were panting.

Bale still felt the clutches of cold wrapped around him, a remnant of directly experiencing the little stint of jumping into the water- And he felt nauseated, some how.

It was the anger. An all consuming, dissolving and tearing rage that was capable of filling anyone's mind and taking full control.

Gardevior recovered first, placing a slim hand upon his shoulder. "_We should go_," she told him softly.

He nodded shakily and rose just as shakily to his feet- After what he'd felt, more than what he'd seen, he was highly volatile around his midsection…

* * *

Ten o'clock.

When they had stopped early, Hannah and the others were still restless- The drop in temperature at the advent of the evening, along with the natural benefits of two hours rest and relaxation prompted them to keep going, until the sun was well and truly down the horizon.

In the meantime, _this _happened. An earthshaking event of world-wide importance.

Okay, no, not really, but still.

The Growlithe calmed down.

Though she'd been carrying all day gingerly at least six inches away with the Puppy Pokemon showing the same amount of respect back, the klutz in her finally caught up- She tripped quite hilariously over a large dirt-colored boulder in the ground, and when the Growlithe went down with her by instinct, she'd stretched out her arms and caught it at the last minute.

It was pure luck that there had been a lush (Amazingly) patch of grass in front of them, so she was saved from the embarrassment of scraped knees.

The Growlithe, however, was noted to have actually looked quite grateful for the prevention of more bruises to its coat, which looked like someone had hurled it through a dumpster and let the trucks pour the trash down for a year before someone had thought to do it justice and toss it out- Despite all that had been done for it.

So there was much surprise in the camp, when the Growlithe actually came within three inches of Hannah. Three inches- But that was better than six, in anyone's book.

It wouldn't let anyone touch it once they were settling in for the night- Nothing close- But it did stop attempting to attack them at the most inopportune moments.

* * *

At the same time, with Demetri lazily (Internally, nervously) sitting in one of the corner chairs, when the bell sounded.

"Bale Anderson, please come to the infirmary…"

Most trainers had already gone back to bed- The rest were busy enjoying the night out in the cool, mostly-fresh air of Azalea Town, so Bale was all alone in the lobby.

And now, the lobby, being tended by the ever vigilant Chansey, was totally empty as he got up and walked into the hallway to which he'd gone through only three hours ago.

"How is he?" Bale asked, seeing Ziri still on the bed, with an exhausted Quilava napping on top. He didn't _look _too bad, but he looked extremely pale- And the first sign that you had frostbite was a death pall upon the victim's skin.

"Stable- Barely," came the exhausted reply. "His body temperature just started rising… And I think you'd thank his Quilava. It's been warming him nonstop just before you arrived, so its only been napping since five minutes ago…"

"Are you sure that he was the _only _one to do anything to try and help him?"

"Well… If you count his Aipom trying to strangle him…"

"That works."

"Then yes… They all tried to help, even that Togepi."

Bale sighed. "They've got a rough way of expressing love, except his Quilava… But it's all the same."

In sharp contrast to all of Demetri/Bale's Pokemon, who showed a silent, yet evident respect for their master. However, Ziri never imposed_ any _discipline on the species that he owned- Demetri did, and quite sternly when they got out of line. But it wasn't like the other teenager who was now on the other side of Union Cave, who did the rough equivalent of physically whipping the ones that he owned.

"And what relationship do you have with him, anyway?"

Bale hadn't been expecting _that _question, but on instinct he said "I'm just his brother that's _trying _to teach him how not to be an idiot while being a trainer, but he learns the hard way."

"Well, you'd best cement the lesson when he wakes up," she said, sighing, and walked back to the desk.

* * *

Azalea Town was a small place- Rumors traveled fast, and therefore filled the entire town even faster.

Now, the trainers who had been present when Bale barged in with Ziri on his shoulder told the shopkeepers with much confusion about the condition of the victim- And ambiguity is always a catalyst for anything that involves gossip.

So now, they were saying that he'd been tossed into Union Cave's underground rivers. Everyone knew they existed- Why else would the rumors of there being something in the cave that sang otherwise have any grounding- It was just that nobody _tried _to find them.

And then for him to fall in- No person with a functional brain would do that. They weren't _that _dumb, at least. So, they said someone had to have forced him in and then left him for...

On that one, the question was now _why _did he get in, if he did.

And it was in this climate of inquisitive-ness that one teenager about the same age as the one being about the same age as the one currently lying in the infirmary went on a stroll in the dead of the night.

He was not a particularly strong trainer- He had no badges, and was thinking of going to Violet City to get the first one as trainers traditionally did, but the thing was- Why both with going miles to another gym when you can just go into the one at your doorstep?

The thing was, with the amount of prestige Bugsy had in the small place, and the fact that he himself wasn't a native, he was constantly gnawed by the fear of being ostracized by everyone in Azalea Town- Not good.

It was now, when he was occupied by his thoughts, that he saw someone going, well, the other way.

He was taking his usual path towards Union Cave when he saw someone coming from right ahead. There weren't many people who did this on a regular basis- In fact, this one teen was the only person in Azalea Town to actually stroll around nightly- Even in winter, in which he just strapped on a coat.

However, this was summer, and the air was somewhere around the temperature range of seventy degrees (A rather massive drop from the mid-eighties earlier in the day)- So why was the guy, who rapidly strode right past him, wearing a trench coat that rose up to his neck?

He kept right on walking- It wasn't his business to stare.

All the same, though, he made him shiver. It was just one of those instinctive feelings that made his messy hair stand on end.

He shook his head, a few minutes later, rubbing the exhaustion out of his dull brown half-lidded eyes. He needed a nap…

* * *

The odd boy "Malachi" had passed? He shook his head in disgust. He had absolutely no discipline- That was for sure. He looked asleep walking- He wondered what he looked like actually sleeping…

In any case, walking towards Team Rocket's extremely- As in, extremely- small hideout, he recalled how, with the aid of his two Strength-wielding Pokemon, he'd just gone right through the main tunnel, strolling to the very end and then wondering:

Why in the world did he get the odd feeling that he should have taken the tunnel…

He'd explore it tomorrow in any case. Now, where was the hideout…

* * *

Ziri woke up.

He woke up quite normally, considering the prolonged period of unconsciousness that he'd experienced when he- In an enraged-for-no-reason fit- he'd thrown himself skull-first into a boulder.

He blinked.

Why did he remember that?

Then, he remembered everything.

Those Beta Squad-people. The explosives.

The Onix. His newly-hatched Bagon.

The botched reunion with Demetri, and then the separation from Quilava.

And…

Ziri jerked so violently that, Quilava, who he hadn't seen sleeping fitfully on his chest, fell off, waking up in a panic. Not noticing, the victim of almost-frostbite shivered at the memory- But he knew that what he remembered was nothing like what he'd _felt_.

The crazed Carvanha swarm.

And, his savior- The Lapras. Now that he thought about it, why _had _it helped him get out? It wasn't as if he'd done it a service or anything before, so there was no debt to repay…

But, at the very least, he'd gotten out.

Luckily, his berserk reaction- Not his first- hadn't _permanently _put him out of commission- It took significant force to beat it into his skull and trigger unconsciousness, and when people go unconscious there's only slightly more needed to trigger a concussion.

Quilava, recovering from his shock, jumped up to his master's face and in a fit of relief lapped vigorously at his face, which he laughed at.

"Get off, silly… I'm fine…"

Even as he said that, covered in what seemed to be about five sheets of blankets, he realized that no, he was not fine- Starting with his jaw, which felt like it was moving in molasses. His muscles still weren't fully recovered from their ordeal in the cave's negative fifty-something water- Fahrenheit, of course.

If it was any colder, do you think he'd be here today? In any case, he was so weak that he couldn't even move a muscle under the blankets.

And he still felt rather chilly…

He had no clue what the time was- There was no clock in the infirmary, and besides even if he had known this he still couldn't move his neck- At all.

He sighed.

"I need more sleep…"

The Volcano Pokemon instantly nodded, resuming his previous position atop Ziri; instantly, both were embraced by the pleasant black abyss.

* * *

It was at six o'clock- His usual time- when Ziri woke up.

It was at this time, however, that someone else woke up as well, which was his normal wake-up hour. A. K. A., "Malachi." Let's drop the quotation marks- This is his current guise, and he'll use it until he sees fit otherwise. So it's Malachi.

There was something curious that the Beta Squad hadn't been telling him- That tunnel from which they had exited did not lead to an exit out of Union Cave. In fact, in going through it he'd never truly noticed it, preferring to just go straight ahead.

There were rumors of an underground river, to be sure, but rumors are rumors. But, in a relatively recent timeframe (Ten years ago) there were sounds of a song that seemed to echo from deep within.

He still didn't believe the rumors, and in fact the new one (Well, technically recent- The old rumor was, after all, decades old.

But now, when he had a possible lead, he couldn't resist- Nothing sang unless it was living, and if it wasn't living it had to involve something actually alive. Think a violin.

So, as he rose quickly from the makeshift bunk, which consisted of little more than a thankfully clean sheet and his trench coat being a pillow- but it did work, and the carpet that he used was clean. But he _had _expected better, even if the hideout hadn't been used in five months.

As for the hideout, it was just an old shack on the other side of Azalea Town- Close to the entrance to the Ilex Forest. It made a perfect cover for a hideout- but since there was nothing to _do _in Azalea Town, lately.

Even the operation in the Slowpoke Well had ceased, mainly because of the profitability issues- Besides, when they were sold the Pokemon advocates immediately went up in arms.

But, if he played his cards right today, and if there was truly something deep in Union Cave, then everything would change.

And even better, he'd ascend further into the organization. He needed that, despite how pathetic it was. It had certain information that was not for the common grunt to know- Even field commanders and chapter heads.

You either had to get permission from the Boss- Or be the Boss. In this case, he was aiming for the first- Assassination? Not just yet. Though he wanted to get rid of him.

In any case…

He shoved the door aside, and walked.

* * *

Ziri spent two more hours sleeping, before he woke up- To find a strange, purple blob right next to him, tending the digital thermometer.

Then he remembered.

That was a Chansey, which, now that he thought about it, meant that he was in a Pokemon Center. Demetri must have gotten him in here, Ziri decided.

But if he was an outlaw, then how? It wasn't as if they'd take a kid with temperatures to shame a Froslass from a guy known to kill at any provocation…

He'd figure it out later. In any case, he attempted to shift the blankets. It was useless- In his still weakened state, it was a miracle that the topmost blanket began to show signs of a wrinkle.

However, the Lucky Pokemon _did _notice- So, chirping quite happily, it waddled away, leaving him alone with four Pokemon waking up quite suddenly.

Not for long- The Nurse Joy came in, looking relieved. "We almost pronounced you dead, you know-"

"Like hell that'll happen by frostbite," Ziri managed to mumble- Slightly easier this time than from two hours ago.

The Nurse Joy looked rather scandalized by the language, but managed to gather her composure. "Um… Also, I believe your name is Zirienji Axlhedron?"

_Demetri must have told her that_, Ziri realized, because his Pokegear had been stashed inside his(Thankfully) waterproof backpack yesterday- After all, if you're in a cave, do you _really _think you can call someone?

Any way, he nodded, and so she continued. "You body temperature dropped to almost zero degrees Celsius last night- You have your Quilava to thank, young man. And your brother had to leave this morning- Said that he had to meet with someone in Goldenrod City, and he left you a letter telling you everything that happened in your backpack."

_My brother_?

Ziri just dumbly nodded, and, satisfied, the pink-haired nurse walked over and took off three of the five sheets. "If you want, you can walk around town to get the feeling back in your muscles," she said, "Just make sure you don't get overexcited and fall- They're very weak right now, as you can imagine."

To that, Ziri again nodded the affirmative- After that she left, leaving Ziri with Quilava on top and the other three on the floor besides him.

Finally, Ziri began.

"Hey guys-"

At this, they scrambled onto him and proceeded to give him a near death experience.

The other teenager woke up ten minutes later- Yawning loudly as he staggered outside into the sunlight.

Word got out- Again- that whoever the kid was had woken up. Although the locals were the kind to not ask too many questions, they had a burning curiosity in them right now to break the old tradition.

Not that this particular guy knew anything about it, but he saw, despite what one would expect from his dopey appearance, everyone was whispering about it and glancing rather suspiciously at the doors of the Pokemon Center, no doubt waiting for the victim to come out. No doubt as well, however, that the ones that apparently didn't have anything better to do but wait around the doors of one of the largest buildings in town were getting bored.

It was, five minutes later as he was finishing his round of walking, when they had just left, that a rather handsome teenager, with wavy brown hair that fluttered in the breeze, stepped out, accompanied by four Pokemon...


	29. The outraged Onix attacks!

**Let's just say that I am severely annoyed with my life. I've only done fifteen percent of my science fair backboard, so expect two weeks till the next chapter.**

**And so, this chapter indeed took me seven days to write. I had one main distractor- Avatar. No offense to you guys, but writing fanfiction can be tedious work... And Avatar was awesome. AWESOMEAWESOMEAWESOME GO WATCH IT NAO. **

**Without further ado, Happy Reading!!**

* * *

Ziri didn't _exactly _walk out- Rather, he staggered out, partly because he still didn't have much control over his and had to sometimes, to his eternal shame, use the walls to help guide himself out.

There was a second reason, however- Demetri- No, Bale's letter.

It read:

_Ziri, the only way I could get you into the Pokemon Center was to pretend that you had fallen in by accident. I saw what happened in your memories- They would have never let me- Or you- in if that had been the story I used. So I just said you fell in, instead of making the jump yourself._

_So, I masqueraded as your brother to let you enter- Do you think they would have let Demetri Koslov himself in, a cross-regional criminal? That'll be when Growlithes grow wings. In any case, I went by the name Bale Anderson in order to get you in. Funny they didn't notice the difference in last names- I would have said I was your stepbrother or vice-versa, but they didn't ask. Anyway… _

_Don't mention the name of Bale Anderson to anyone else- If the Nurse Joy says the name, react normally. But keep that name out of earshot of anyone else- My name is Demetri Koslov, not that. And make sure this letter doesn't drift into anyone else's hands. _

His head was spinning that he was still alive because of a lie, but if it worked, then it worked. But he still couldn't get the guilty feeling that the Nurse Joy was being violently duped…

When he walked/ staggered out into the sunshine, the first thing he noticed was a boy that _seemed _half-asleep; but one never knows.

He _appeared _to be staring at Ziri, but again- Nobody knows when it comes to those kinds of people.

In any case, Ziri tried not to give any sign about his current condition, and failed badly in this case.

This boy was actually one of the most observant people in town- No, he _was _the most observant person in town. He instantly saw through the valiant- But all too obvious, at least to his eyes- façade that Ziri had put up.

So, walking over, he said "Need help?"

Ziri was stunned that he'd instantly known something was wrong- So, his mouth worked for him.

"Yes, no, maybe so, but can you help me at all when the dead man's walking?"

The boy actually opened his eyes to the fullest extent, blinking in confusion about what the heck that meant- Until he realized his dopey complexion was the key point. "I'm not dead-"

"You look like it so you must be."

He shook himself. "Um, ignoring that…"

"Wonderful, I'm talking to a zombie. Now. Keep talking."

"Um… Uh…"

He was violently unnerved by the rapid-fire speech and very odd ideas that Ziri appeared to have floating around in his head, but then he solved it for him- "Okay, I do, but I don't want any. That good enough? I'm in a bad mood, if that's enough of a reason…"

He shook himself visibly- "Uh, yeah, that's fine… You're not the one who… Fell in… Right?"

Ziri remembered what Demetri had said in the letter, and keeping a perfectly straight face he said "Yep."

The boy instantly saw that there was something else behind the story- And this instantly got him asking "What really happened?"

_Again_?

Ziri decided to stonewall him this time around. "I fell in, as in slipping and letting gravity do the dirty work. What more do you need?"

Ziri's counterpart recognized the dismissal, but made no reaction to it. "So, uh, what's your name?"

"Zirienji Axlhedron. But," he added, as he opened his mouth, "You can call me Ziri."

The boy clamped his mouth shut, about to comment on the mouthful that his full name was.

"You ask me, I ask you. What do you go by?"

"Well, my name's Felix Taber-"

"Felix?" Ziri asked, eyebrows raised. "As in, cat?"

He blinked.

Felix had never really thought of his name like that before, but…

"Anyway," Ziri went on, "I came into this town unconscious. Can you give me a tour?"

* * *

It was impossible to say how lucky the gang of four was, when they saw three trucks attempting to navigate Route 31's path from behind.

"Hey kids, move!" the driver in the foremost truck yelled.

It was at that point that exact truck's front right tire slammed violently into a rock that jutted upwards through the dirt; he hadn't seen it, in his annoyance with the "kids"…

Who were still at least thirty feet away then.

"Instant karma," Urya muttered under his breath.

For once, sSynthia agreed with the most immature member of the quartet; that particular guy was quite the you-know-what-hole. In any case, Hannah observed with devilish pleasure along with the rest of them- except Gale, who looked exasperated by the sheer stupidity of adults- As the truck fishtailed wildly, sending the two behind it into screeching stops.

"_You idiot!_" One voice yelled. "The heck you stop for? You almost got us killed, and I _know _that move you just pulled just screwed up some of the supplies that we were _supposed _to be sending, but _nooooo_, you, the awesome guy you are-"

"Shut up, it's not like you could have dealt with the same situation that I just had-"

"Which was?"

That was a third feminine voice, but she sounded quite enraged as well. "We heard you talking to whoever was in front- _That's _what got you hitting whatever you did, obviously!"

The first guy, a balding one who looked like he could rip a telephone pole out of the ground, was reduced to sputtering incoherent bits of profanity; in any case, the second, much skinnier male, asked them, after coming out of _his _truck, "What we're you guys doing to tick him off?"

"Nothing," everyone responded in unison.

Instead of looking as if this wasn't a good enough answer, he just sighed and shook his head. "Figures, this guy is like a stick of dynamite that you can't stop from lighting when even _one _thing hits him. Even if it's nonflammable. Ugh…"

"Hey, you're not alone in your suffering," came the girl, who looked to be about thirty or so. Then she addressed them. "Where were you going?"

"Azalea Town," Gale answered, "but the going's really slow…"

The second guy raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? Route 31's something like thirty miles long the last time I heard, or maybe it was forty. It'll take you something like ten days to get there by walking-"

"Quit with the 'somethings,'" the woman grumbled, and immediately he shut up. "And then, you-" she indicated the four teenagers slash children-"How long have you been on the road?"

"A day now-"

"God, you guys are crazy," the first man, finally recovered from his bout of pouting, "it _will _take you nine more days-"

"I didn't mean it literally, idiot!" guy number two yelled. "Didn't I say-"

"something like ten days? Well, you somehow have the magical ability to _make _it the number you randomly declare for whatever anyone does, dolt!"

Silence, as the four digested this piece of information.

"Okay, shorten it, then!"

That was, surprisingly guy number one, who didn't seem to know what he'd said.

"Okay, how? Let them ride-" Guy number two.

"Why not? We've got plenty of space up top!"

And that was the woman- With that, it was settled.

"Um, who are you guys again?" Alex managed to ask timidly as the buff one began gruffly directing them to the top of the three trucks.

"I'm Martha, that's Mick, and Mikey," she jabbed first at the smaller, "magical" man, then at the bodybuilding-type. "So, you can call us M, M and M. The three Ms. We usually get along worse than this, but…"

_Worse than this_?

At the very least, they had much accelerated travel…

* * *

Bale had not left town- On the contrary, he'd decided to stake out an outpost on the eastern side, right opposite (Unknown to him) Malachi. It wasn't even a house he was using- In the dead of the night he'd secretly gotten Tyranitar to create a sort of hollow that allowed him to stay both hidden in the woods and to have a suitable place to not worry about people discovering him- The woods around Azalea Town were thick, and so would deter anyone from entering that particular section. You had to go around thirty feet into to see the artificial clearing that would prevent any stray Pokemon from bushwacking Bale- Now once again Demetri- while he thought about what to do next.

There hadn't been significant Team Rocket activity around for years now- Azalea Town was just too sleepy for that. Okay.

What else was there to do?

He groaned. There was only one thing tying him here- Ziri. Team Rocket just might get drawn to Azalea Town if they followed him here, and he, going through Ziri's memories, had witnessed the four Beta Squad members teleporting in there, in an apparently random act- But who knew what they were capable of.

They looked like buffoons, and had the deserving luck of buffoons- but they could do some things right, such as blowing up parts of a cave to trap certain people trying to go through.

What knew what they would do next?

* * *

At this point in time, the Beta Squad warped in, via Jonathan's Abra (Again), in front of Union Cave- Azalea Town side.

This time, they were here to give the nonexistent Azalea Town chapter of Team Rocket some much needed inspiration- Which raised the serious question.

To _who_?

In any case, they got the feeling that Malachi's implied sponsorship had pushed them significantly higher than their previous level in Team Rocket- It paid to have the filed commander say that he or she helped.

Anyway, they were now in the state of- "What do we do now?"

The answer came rather quickly.

* * *

Ziri and Felix had pretty much walked around the entire town there wasn't really much to see around here, but Felix had given Ziri the rundown on the people.

For one- _never _make anything close to an insult to Slowpokes.

Number two- make sure to _not _poke fun at the charcoal maker's Farfetch'd, even if it was for a valid reason. It was, after all, his pride and joy.

Number three- never insult Bugsy. And anything close to that.

"But I want to thrash him," Ziri grumbled, "How am I supposed to avoid that?"

"I don't think you can," Felix answered helplessly, "So I guess once you beat him you run away…"

"Wonderful, and I can't even walk in a straight line right now, let alone run…"

By now, they'd reached the front of a house that seemed quite old-fashioned- But, Ziri realized a second after he saw it, it had some of the newest machinery in the class of which they had been purchased in on the side thrumming away…

"Whose place is this?"

"Kurt, the Pokeball maker," Felix quickly answered. "One of the nicest guys here, but he can be _really _gruff."

Ziri blinked. "Did you say Pokeball maker?"

As he said that he meaningfully glanced down at Bagon, who in turn glanced innocently up at him. Felix, secretly noting this and inferring that the Rock Head Pokemon didn't actually have a Pokeball to reside in, said "Actually, he makes specialized Pokeballs, like Pokeballs for heavy Pokemon, ones for seafaring ones, the list goes on and on. He doesn't actually make normal ones… And you have to bring him Apricorns first."

"What are-"

At that moment Ziri then noticed a tree on the lawn within the fence, with some odd looking fruit on top- fruits that were both white and had and very much spherical. Since the sunlight had partially rejuvenated him, he managed to walk- Quite quickly, somewhat underneath his normal walking speed- and now stood in front of it.

Felix looked around nervously. "You might not want to do that-"

Gently, he grasped one- Noting its hardness- and slowly began to pull-

The front door burst open, startling him, but Ziri didn't change his speed of slowly pulling the Apricorn out of the stem.

"Kid, what the _hell _are you doing-"

At that moment, the stem relinquished its grip on the Apricorn with a light pop, and Ziri stood there, looking down at the white sphere in his hand.

He looked up, to see a wizened man in his fifties staring at him, openmouthed.

"Did… Did you just pick an Apricorn with your _bare hands_?"

Ziri blinked. "Am I not supposed to?"

"W-well, you _could_, but you might shatter it-"

"This thing?" Ziri said incredulously. "This thing's as hard as my Bagon's skull, how could it crack-?"

"They're actually very brittle," the man cut in, "And jerking too hard causes the stem to stay attached, which when you're making Pokeballs is _not _what you want to happen. But, I swear you've got nerves of steel, considering you didn't even flinch when I bashed my door open-"

Then he caught sight of the other teenager looking rather confused by the exchange. "Oh, Felix! I didn't know you were giving him a tour-"

"Well, he sort of asked for it after getting knocked out by the thing inside the cave-"

"So _you're _the boy that had to go to infirmary!" he laughed, slapping Ziri's back so hard he was forced to stumble forward a few steps. "I can see exactly why you survived _that _encounter!"

Grabbing Ziri's shoulder, he called back to Felix- "You don't need to finish up the tour- I'll do it myself!"

With that, he proceeded to drag the helpless teenager, still clutching the Apricorn, into the house, where the door slammed shut.

Felix stood there, openmouthed, before he shook himself.

He prayed that Ziri would come out alive…

* * *

It was twelve o'clock in the morning, a Monday.

By then, Urya and co., riding on the back of the three trucks, had learned that the Pokemon Center that would usually greet travelers that survived the long walk to Union Cave had been blown up in an act of blatant terrorism. So, these three trucks were being sent along in order to keep the tradition- Mikey's truck was lugging along tents, Martha's food, and Mick's other creature comforts.

There were, to the surprise of the four people aboard, reports from the witnesses of explosion and aftermath, that there had been a teenager- Particularly, to the swooning dialogue of the women- that was in the possession of wavy sandy-brown hair and handsome features who loudly and judiciously insulted Team Rocket itself, and who had then run off at blinding speeds. All people present at the scene wearing black and a large red R in the front of their shirts left in hot pursuit, but when they came back forty minutes later, exhausted, they were instantly assaulted by the law enforcement.

That instantly fit the bill for exactly what Ziri looked like and would do- But they made no mention that a buddy of theirs was a source of the destruction.

There were, as the drivers noted, suspicious reports of a fire alarm being pulled right before the Center had blown- But nobody knew why, save the Nurse Joy, who had within arms reach the only fire alarm there. Well, before it went up in smoke.

"The Center's coming up in ten minutes-" Mick began calling, but then Martha cut him off-

"Where the Center _used _to be, nitwit! Why else would we be delivering this stuff?"

"Quiet back there," Mick snapped, in the lead, "I'm trying to concentrate-"

"If you can't handle being in the lead, switch with one of us, you wimp!"

At this, he ground his teeth- considering how many times he did that, Gale noted, it was a miracle that he hadn't ground them to a dust yet- and became quiet for the rest of the short trip there.

* * *

At the very least, they knew where the hideout was- that should have given them points for knowing the important places. But, as of now they were the only Team Rocket members of the four-man Azalea Town chapter- consisting of the four-man Beta Squad.

They had chosen to move around the edge of town, as to not arouse the suspicions of the residents. When you're a resident of anywhere, anything out of place means that you instantly- consciously or not- decide to place it in the category of "threat."

They would have gotten to the lonely, abandoned shack unnoticed if there hadn't been one, particular problem…

* * *

Kurt, upon dragging Ziri inside, went into another room upstairs, allowing the poor kid to check his new surroundings.

For one- There was a large table here, with knives, etchers, various bits and pieces of machinery, and discarded pieces of what Ziri suspected were failed attempts at making a Pokeball. He looked around, seeing that although the workspace was cluttered it was kept ordered as well, a rare combination.

"Ah, like my workshop, eh?"

Ziri looked up to find Kurt bustling in with a jug and two small cups. From the steam slowly filtering from the cap, he guessed it must be tea, but he simply nodded and said "Do you only make Pokeballs from Apricorns?"

Kurt nodded, his face turning somber as he carefully set down the two cups- On which he somehow slid across the table to Ziri's side, another which he placed in front of himself; "It's a lost art that I'm using, and it barely pays the bills in any case. But, it's the only thing I know how to do, and I enjoy it."

Ziri looked down at the Apricorn his still held. "So you can only make stuff as long as you have one of these…"

"Correct," Kurt answered, and he looked at the teenager critically. "You are one of two people that I've ever seen- I haven't even _heard _of other people- to be able to pick an Apricorn barehanded. I've been doing this all my life, and _I _can't do it!"

"How do you do it, anyway?"

"Oh, with some cutters to cut off the stem- But then removing the piece that's still attached is murder. Technically, just doing it by hand is the best way, but you and another person from about twenty years ago are the only people that I know can do it- And since Apricorns only grow in Johto and Kanto…"

Ziri dimly remembered advertisements for some kind of specialized Pokeball in the past- "What kinds of Pokeballs to you make?"

"Are you joking?" Kurt looked at him in shock. "I can make seven different kinds from the seven different Apricorns there are! The one you're holding right now, I can make what you'd call a Fast Ball from it in a few hours!"

Ziri looked at it- Then he offered it Kurt. "How much would I need to pay- And what do Fast Balls do again?"

Kurt stared at him, openmouthed- Then, regaining his composure poured himself the cup of tea that had been delayed. "They catch Pokemon, obviously- But in certain situations, they work much better than normal Pokeballs. Fast Balls for example- If a Pokemon is hightailing it away, then throw them and voila, you have yourself a new Pokemon!"

Ziri was forced to admit that it _did _sound attractive- "So, how much would I have to pay-"

Kurt instantly cut him off. "For you, it's free- Since I don't have do any hard work! You just wait a day or two, and I'll have it ready."

Ziri opened his mouth to protest- But Kurt had already poured the tea into the second cup and slid it across the table right in front of him. "Drink up, I heard you had a body temperature of negative fifty last night. And yes, it's free. Now…"

He bustled upstairs once more, leaving Ziri with his mouth open like a fish on land- He closed his mouth a few seconds later, realizing that the man was serious.

Oh well. Free things are always nice.

* * *

Kurt, upstairs, was busy looking for where his box of snacks were- He was an oddity in this respect, keeping _all _of his spare munchies in one container- when he noticed a gang of four people outside his window.

Kurt had converted his house's entire first storey into a workshop, with no windows- well, no windows had been constructed for the first floor, anyway. So, his sleeping room and his granddaughter's (Who was taking an early afternoon nap) were right next to the kitchen, posing a fire risk-but not that he cared, since for years he'd been warned.

He hadn't had a single fire yet…

So, from his second-storey window he was capable of seeing half the town- And so, he was the first one to observe the Beta Squad's discrete, but not discrete enough, movements.

So, although he wanted to rush out and confront them at that very moment, he knew it would be a futile- And self-destructive- effort. If he just rushed out for no good reason, then maybe the kid, whatever his name would might follow and get dragged into the rapidly escalating mess.

So, he forced himself to locate his box of snacks and go back down the stairs- He'd deal with the Team Rocket grunts later.

* * *

Alex was stunned to find the Pokemon Center had been blown to the ground.

She had always expected Pokemon Centers to be havens of neutrality, places where anyone could rest, heal, eat, answer the call of nature, whatever- Anything could be done, all in peace.

But now, when one got demolished and the remains lay scattered in front of her, she was scared. She had the right to be- Ten year-olds will be ten year-olds. So, the ten year-old was speechless by the rubble- "Who could have done this?"

"Team Rocket, duh," Martha grumbled as she got ready to begin unloading. "Could you help-?"

Everyone couldn't help but notice the newfound zeal of Alessandra Cesarini as she unloaded what was later estimated to be two hundred pounds in supplies- In under ten minutes.

* * *

Kurt came downstairs with the box open, looking preoccupied- Ziri was no Felix, but he was perceptive enough to see something was wrong, and so he voiced his concern aloud: "Something the matter?"

"Ah, nothing," Kurt quickly said, expression clearing- And filling up with shock a second later. "How in the world did you _finish_ already?"

"What, the tea?" Ziri looked down at his empty cup. "It wasn't that hot…"

Kurt stared at him, openmouthed.

"What," Ziri said defensively, "You think it was?"

Kurt decided not to waste words and simply touched the side of the jug.

In an instant, the calloused hand jerked away, and Kurt _looked _like he was about to mouth some violent curses- But managed to hold his tongue.

"You have no taste buds, boy? Because your tongue should have been roasted right now." He now gave his younger counterpart a very surprised look. "Really, you shouldn't have been able to finish that…"

"Well, I like hot stuff," Ziri said stoutly, "And I'm still recovering from my little flirtation with hypothermia, you know…?"

He then grinned. "Pull out your spiciest stuff and see."

Both temperature and taste? He wasn't kidding.

"Okay, you win at that one, kid," Kurt grinned before he sat down again, taking out the box. "You've eaten, right-"

At that moment, Ziri's stomach proceeded to make itself heard throughout the small world.

"Never mind."

* * *

The boy, from first light hadn't stopped in going through Union Cave.

His newly caught Zubat treated him rather sullenly, but he was quite sure that in time it would submit to his will. The few Geodude in the cave posed no threat to a good Water Gun, and even when that failed a Licking would paralyze and ultimately damn the poor rock-type into the simple act of being walked away from.

It swung its fists in anger whenever the teenager did that- Or at least tried, because paralysis would get to it first. In the meantime, he kept walking on.

Two hours into the cave- And absolutely no sign that there was another exit anywhere else. This was ten o'clock.

And that's when he reached the site of the Onix.

The first signs that came to him of something a bit too large to be able to be handled was the constant, low rumbling he began to hear as he neared that particular cavern.

When he saw through the opening in, he immediately backed away, because he was seeing the Rock Snake Pokemon do something of a constant patrol around the cavern; no, it was _not _letting anyone even _think _about messing with it today after yesterday's fiasco.

But, the boy had one distinct advantage on his side- He had a water-type, even if it didn't have a resistance to whatever it was packing in its arsenal. So, waiting a few seconds, he let the Onix cross to the exact opposite of where he and his Pokemon were, before hissing:

"Totodile, Water Gun!"

The jet of liquid blasted across the cavern and struck dead on the Rock Snake's head.

Normally, he would have given a grudging nod of praise, but instantly, the Onix remembered yesterday's Hydro Pump- And, mistaking this much smaller burst for a larger one, it roared and begin to blindly slither forward towards the source-

Blindly, as in very much blindly, since it had been blasted in the eyes. And Onixes are naturally quite slow, meaning that the boy, his Totodile, and Gastly (His Zubat, not being trusted, was kept inside its Pokeball) were able to slip out of the tunnel and behind a stack of stalagmites, as the Rock Snake simply raged right past them.

As it slithered into the tunnel, intent on destruction and death, the boy made a full-blown sprint for the passage on the other side of the cavern. Although he was no Ziri in this matter, he was able to reach it in ten seconds across the hundred foot room.

Desperation was a _very _good motivator.

* * *

As for the Onix, let's just say it went rather far.

First off, when it went through the tunnel, it was so blinded by rage that it kept going. And going. And going.

Second, since it was blind literally, it didn't realize that as it ripped through a few rock walls, and then through the wall of the cave itself, that it was actually going outside into the sunlight.

Onixes have compasses in their heads- So it went north. Dead into the camp.

* * *

Ziri was very much stuffed by everything Kurt had to offer, and that was saying something, having had no dinner last night and no breakfast either. As for the host, he was laughing his head off- Until he realized that the snacks he'd set out had been inhaled in five seconds. All twenty pieces of them.

In any case, Ziri, now sitting back contentedly, asked a question that had been gnawing on his mind for some time now- "Who was the other person that you were talking about earlier?"

"Oh, him? Well, if I'm not blind I'd say that you're a carbon copy of him… But maybe without the eyes, he had brown ones. You eyes do have an odd color to them, like gray, and not gray-"

"I just like to call it steel-gray."

"Alright then, let me go on. He was about your height- And I think he still had room to grow. How old are you again, whatever your name is-"

Ziri couldn't help but smile as he realized that with every person he met, he had to go through a rather long process knowing their name and them not knowing his, and just said "Ziri, fifteen years old."

"Oh yes, Ziri… I think he was around your age, sure… He might have been younger. I'd say that you two are related somehow…"

_You inherited your father's good looks. _

Was this unknown person his father-?

"Except you guys aren't."

Ziri blinked. "Excuse me?"

Kurt tilted his head in bewilderment. "I just said the two of you, one from the past and you from now, can't be related!"

"Why not-?"

"I know I said you two were carbon copies- But I can see your personalities are like day and night!"

Now _he _was confused. "What do you mean by day and night and the personality stuff?"

Kurt looked pensive for a few seconds before he spoke again.

"For one thing, the kid I met maybe twenty years ago was loud, boastful, and arrogant- And had the skill, strength, and talent to back it up, and he liked to do it, even for no good reason. You? You're just the opposite, quiet, thoughtful, and almost shy around people. But you have that same strength and talent, only it's hidden inside, and you don't seem to like showing it off. And when you do, it's either unconsciously done or consciously done with motivation."

Ziri couldn't think of anything to say after this.

* * *

The Onix with no provocation raged into the camp, mercifully causing little damage- The clearing where the Pokemon Center had originally been only had signs of human life, mainly those resting and those helping to one side and nothing in the center and left.

The Onix going straight north ripped right through the middle, which meant only a canister of food that was accidentally misplaced was crushed- Otherwise, it did nothing at all. Well, besides frightening people, but…

It want a mile north, before its eyes finally cleared and it realized that it wasn't inside the cave anymore but in the sunlight.

The Rock Snake roared again, and the flying-types from miles around immediately left their roosts, startled; now it remembered it had gone straight north, so…

Now it went straight south.

In what was turning out to be an extremely weird day, Gale first bore witness to an Onix who had nothing better to do than to barrel right past them, sounding very much enraged. Mick, frightened, accidentally let out his own Beldum- Correctly colored, as it was noted- who immediately floated away off into the woods.

It didn't like him, and he didn't like it- Would anyone like a Pokemon with one move that was nothing short of suicidal? There was Urya, but he was fanatical about Ragnarok.

Now the Onix came back, and now he had a dilemma on his hands- How do you get rid of a very angry snake made of rock that's ten times- Rather, fifteen times- bigger than you?

Blaze the Charmander was first to act, instinctively spitting out an Ember…

That seemed slightly reminiscent of what Quilava tried to do yesterday, and it had exactly the same effect- It immediately whipped its tail around at a ridiculously high speed, in an attempt to smash the Fire Lizard Pokemon into an insignificant orange pulp; to no avail, as he simply danced away, startled nonetheless-

Remembering that Onixes were both rock and ground-types, Gale threw out Slowpoke's Pokeball- "Water Gun! Aim for the face-"

His Slowpoke opened his mouth, but that was before the Rock Snake smashed its tail into the ground, sending shards of rock skywards- And onto the Dopey Pokemon. One landed with a rather heavy _thonk_ on the pink skull, prompting it to jerk in what Gale recognized as a flinch…

With a groan, it shook itself out of the stupor it was in, but it was too late- The Onix had already dived underground, with only tremors barely detectable to them able to be felt.

As the three startled and frightened truck divers hung back, having not thought about taking along any Pokemon (Besides Mick, but since his Beldum had drifted off in an act of shunning, that didn't count), the four of them all stared at each other.

"Why do we _always _have to take down some really big and angry?" Hannah groaned, fishing out Flora's Pokeball.

"And what if this has something to do with Ziri? Again?" Alex added, looking quite depressed as she quickly stroked the currently shell-shocked Blaze along his back.

It was only half the story, but still. That _was _true.

In any case, the Onix roared right back up, slamming into Flora in the ascent. As the Leaf Pokemon flew through the air, wailing, Urya shouted "Ragnarok, Take Down!"

The faithful Iron Ball Pokemon sped through the air unhesitatingly- And simply bounced off, headfirst when it made contact with the solid rock wall that was the Onix. Alex, noting that simply beating it up with fists or anything related to pure force was no use, now shouted "Use Dragon Rage!"

The white sphere of flames, formed in the glowing mouth of the Charmander, only made a glancing hit on the side of the Rock Snake- But it was enough to make it explode on contact, sending it straight into the ground-

With a deep howl of anger, the Onix turned the momentum used for sending it into the ground and smashed into it with add deliberate force, sending skywards a rain of rock-

"Flora, use Vine Whip and smash them away!"

The Bayleef, highly miffed by the unfortunate event of the Rock Snake coming up right under her, was eager to get revenge and so lashed out with her vines shooting from her neck, whacking away the shards of stone coming near where the Pokemon other than the Onix clustered- As its neck rose up from the ground, she couldn't resist slamming it with one outstretched vine that just _happened _to have been overhead.

Though Onixes had rock-solid (Pardon the pun) defenses physically, grass-type moves were always a sore spot- So, even though it was more of a light whap than an actual whipping, it was still enough for it to jerk violently in pain.

All four trainers there stared at it, and then at each other.

"If grass-type and water-types are its worst headaches," Hannah began aloud.

"Then all we do is just that," Synthia finished smugly.

Instantly nodding to each other, they faced the slowly recovering Onix- While Synthia sneakily called out her Magby.

She had a plan- A very vicious one. In the meantime, Hannah called "Razor Leaf!"

The flying leaves never met their target, wising up to their motives, the Rock Snake had instead gone underground, where it contemplated the next move.

Not for long; Gale ordered, "Use Confusion to find it underground!"

It didn't take long for the muffled roaring of the Onix to begin being heard, as he was twisted, bent, town, and ripped at underground. Slowpoke simply blinked as a blue aura hovered around him, unaware of the pain he appeared to be causing-

And with that the Onix did it again, smashing through the earth skywards- Right under the Dopey Pokemon. Gale backed away in a panic, tripping over a sleeping bag that had been carelessly put out-

"Magby, Focus Punch!" Synthia yelled.

Hannah, remembering that particular move from May's Munchlax, knew that it would more than likely send it toppling when it hit- _if _it did, because it had the notorious habit of failing whenever _anything _hit it hard enough to break its concentration, but it that was talking about an extremely large range of things that could distract.

But then again, with the Onix roaring jubilantly over its apparent slaughtering of its tormenter, it could be said that it wouldn't- And couldn't- pay any attention to the little red thing that was waddling up to it with a glowing fist…

Until, of course, the Live Coal Pokemon punched it with said glowing fist.

With an absurd amount of force behind it, the fist sent the Onix tumbling away, as Slowpoke came down with a thud…

Dead on Magby.

"Slowpoke, get _off_," Gale groaned a few seconds later, as the Live Coal Pokemon gave out muffled peeps of panic, knowing Synthia was probably going to violently assault him now…

The Dopey Pokemon only looked at him with the same expression that it always had on its face, unless in extreme distress.

"Fine," his owner grumbled, "I'll get you Rawst Berries later… Now get _off_!"

Groaning, it rolled over, to reveal Magby mostly unharmed, but looking as if it had been traumatized to the nth degree.

Then Gale blinked. And remembered.

The Live Coal Pokemon was right in the hole where the Onix had ripped upwards from, so that it given it breathing room while Slowpoke had loafed around up top- But in any case, Synthia walked over and administered the expected assault via temporary strangulation, which Gale took quite calmly until she let go five seconds later.

"Never," she snarled, "do that again."

He didn't bother telling her that he didn't have a clue _why _Slowpoke had come down on her Magby, nor did he point out that the Live Coal Pokemon had thrown itself forward dead into the hole by itself; if he did, he'd just make it worse for himself, noting his own sore neck. And what else could possibly come up.

As the Onix got up, everyone got the sudden feeling that the violence was only going to crank up now, judging from the look in its eyes…

* * *

Three hours later from then, at one-thirty in the afternoon, a battered, exhausted, yet jubilant teenager emerged from the cave, wearing a cap which barely managed to hide the green lashes and mostly black clothes, save for a few stretches of red here and there.

What he had gone through?

Two hours ago, he had gone past the Onix for sixty more minutes before calling for (Grudgingly) a rest. After all, he wasn't dumb- He was cruel but smart, knowing any Pokemon starved was no Pokemon for battle. So, taking out the food that he'd thought to bring along, he fed it too them, watching them hungrily devour it in…

At that point in time he blinked.

Was that five seconds after he'd given it to them?

"Go find your own," he snapped, once they had gobbled it all down and looked at him expectantly- Wait, was that a Zubat looking at him?

In any case, crestfallen, they'd moped around, trying to find food when there was nothing but rock around them. Beginning to feel guilty- More for missing the obvious, than for the looks on their faces (Which was also a contributing factor), he reluctantly pulled out another packet of munchies- Which they pretty much inhaled in ten seconds.

That was enough for them, who proceeded to lie down contented- Again, the boy was forced to join his Pokemon in the moment of R&R, because he was exhausted from the amount of thinking and running that he had been doing ever since he gone inside the damn cave.

An hour after that.

Let's just say that when he walked into the tunnel where Demetri had his unfortunate encounter with the Golbat/ Zubat colony, it was violent.

First off- Humans were bad in their shared philosophy, especially when Gardevior and Demetri had decided to come through. The bad mood continued into the next day, and this day was the next day. So.

Second off, it's not good for _anyone _to face down what appeared to be fifty Golbat and Zubat flying at your face. Which is exactly what the boy realized when fifty Golbat and Zubat flew at his face.

So, when they flew at his face, he threw himself behind some stalagmites (A favorite tactic of his now) and shouted, remembering that Zubat and Golbat were flying-types: "Totodile, Ice Fang!"

And then he remembered that there were fifty Zubat against one.

Though the Big Jaw Pokemon fought valiantly, he was soon swamped by the tens of Bat Pokemon that descended upon it, most of them frozen from his bites but some of them did succeed in sinking their fangs and, for a brief moment, sucking out the vitality of Totodile…

"Gastly, Night Shade, now!"

The bolts of reddish-black flew through the black surroundings, striking a pair of Zubat as they crowded around Totodile; now, a Golbat, enraged by the assault on its kin, flew at the Gas Pokemon, opening its mouth…

"Confuse Ray, now!"

The ghostly light flew forward at the Bat Pokemon, who flew there in midair, an odd look passing over its eyes- Whereas it then began to swipe viciously with its wings at its fellows in obvious confusion.

Wing Attacks by Golbat hurt, and this was no exception- Barreling through the air, the confused Golbat knocked loads of its kind out- Painfully- with what appeared to be the _edge _of its wings…

Totodile finally flung off his attackers, to which he couldn't resist sinking his teeth into one last Zubat- His frozen teeth. The poor Zubat this time was frozen into a solid rock, the particular bite being imbued with an especially large amount of force on this particular chomp. Without losing any of its prior momentum, it proceeded to barrel into a cluster of fellow bat Pokemon that went down with indignant screeches as they were whacked by the flying block of ice. Elsewhere, Gastly on its own accord began Licking random members of the swarm, causing them to violently shiver- And then drop to the earth, immobile.

And then, there came down three Golbat which Bit down upon Gastly from behind- The change in expression, from gleeful to one of disbelief, was cut short when the boy on instinct returned the Gas Pokemon to its Pokeball.

_Which leaves… _

Reluctantly, as they turned on him, even as Totodile was freshly mauled by a new group of Zubats, the boy sent out his _own _Zubat to combat the threat. The Zubat, though surprised to have been fighting its own colony, nonetheless performed the Bite ordered by its master, who imagined the ability to frustrate that it demonstrated yesterday-

It was well based, but to be sure it worked miserably. No sooner had it sunk its teeth into one Golbat's wing did another clamp its teeth down on _its_ wing, making the advantage of speed quite redundant. As it flew away, screeching, its owner backed away further.

Egged on by this apparent show of submission, the two Golbats, minus the one trying to pursue the nuisance that had been attempting to chew up its wing, began to advance.

He glanced over at Totodile, who was totally swamped; looking exhausted, the Big Jaw Pokemon could barely keep himself from falling over, as he staggered and weaved around the flitting Bat Pokemon that dive-bombed him from every side.

And the gravity of the situation struck him.

_Why here? _

_Why does it all have to stop here? _

_Well, if they're going to do it this way…_

_Then I'll be happy to show that cornered rats, even one like me, and still bite back_.

He did one of the most stupidest things ever in his life- He charged.

Pretty much everyone in the cave turned to look at the yelling as he ran forward, blindly punching, kicking, jabbing, grabbing, and screaming at anything he felt.

Totodile looked spellbound, even as a Zubat made a halfhearted dive at him- In any case, since it was halfhearted, it just bounced off of his scaly skin. His owner, unconsciously taking advantage of the fact that the Golbats were too stunned to even flap their wings and so fell onto the ground, began to stomp wildly at the dim shapes, bringing screeches of pain from below. But he didn't see the third Golbat, who had been previously chasing the pesky Zubat, coming up from behind…

Totodile saw it, and quickly Water Gunned it down; but it was that that broke the stupor that had descended upon the colony. Quickly, more Golbat descended on the boy, with some gripping his arms to be brought upwards, and more, about to close their teeth on his neck-

With that, Totodile barreled forward, clamping his teeth on the nearest attacker, but to no avail; in his haste Totodile had forgotten to add ice to his fangs, and so didn't do much more than make it flinch- Others grabbed the Big Jaw Pokemon and flung him away.

The boy stared dead ahead of the nearest, meanest Golbat, who looked to be enjoying this moment- Unknown to him, this particular Golbat had taken the brunt of Gardevior's Dark Pulse- And was relishing revenge on any human that stumbled across their nest. So, he began to close his four fangs upon this human, who only began to realize his predicament, upon his throat-

And that's when Totodile began glowing, in his horror that his master was going to die and by extension later so would he.

Slowly, though the boy dropped to the ground in pain, he made no sound as a crest began to crow atop the Big Jaw Pokemon's head. Spiky in shape, it was the most obvious thing that was going, as the tail, arms and height began to grow. Slowly, ever so slowly and ponderously, its jaws began to expand, with fangs becoming all the more visible-

And the light was gone, and before him stood a crocodilian, just like the previous Pokemon he'd seen in that exact spot, except larger and fiercer, with black marking around its eyes.

He didn't have time to use his Pokedex, so he yelled "Use whatever you want!"

For a second, it acted like it was deaf, as the swarm of Bat Pokemon swooped in for the kill, evolution or not…

And then, it suddenly jumped up and down, violently slamming into pretty much everyone in front of it. Even the boy was agape with shock as he viewed his Totodile- No, something else entirely- crash, smash, pummel, rip, tear, and simply throw himself into the hordes of Bat Pokemon. Zubat ricocheted of walls and stalagmites- The Golbats, heavier, went right through them, breaking them and sending fragments everywhere.

Things broke. That was all that could be said.

The tunnel was filled with the din of screeching Zubat and Golbat, as they accepted defeat and flew off to who knew where; in any case, the newly evolved Big Jaw Pokemon sent one last Golbat, flying off in retreat, whizzing forward and into the center of the disorganized crowd running away, causing mass confusion, pain, and general anger as they sent one last burst of sound waves in what the boy recognized as a mass Supersonic.

The Zubat he owned- It was hanging upside down, having hidden throughout the ordeal.

As for his newly evolved Pokemon…

The Supersonic had absolutely no effect, since it was already confused anyway and was bashing its head against the ground…

* * *

The Onix came back up, now content to use its nastiest weapon- Its tail.

The formerly mentioned appendage was busy lashing out, preventing any Pokemon from getting close- Even when Alex ordered another Dragon Rage from Blaze, the fireball was smashed apart in midair en route to its target. Even though it exploded, per custom, the tail simply whipped elsewhere, this time whacking Slowpoke in the face just as Gale managed to yell a Water Gun- which meant it was once again canceled.

"C'mon Ragnarok!" Urya called encouragingly. "Another Take Down-"

Floating up, the Iron Ball Pokemon charged once more, smacking the Onix…

Dead on the crest on top of its head.

The Onix stopped, bemused.

Then, almost carelessly, it turned around, drawing back its tail in a deliberate motion-

Finally, the long appendage, the only one the Rock Snake had, smashed dead on the Iron Ball Pokemon's eye.

Let's just say that when the oddly-colored Beldum flew, it flew fast. A bit too fast to be comfortable, to the point where five trees were the victim of the whizzing cylinder of metal.

It stopped, with its hooks end first, halfway embedded in the sixth tree, with its eyes going in circles. It should be noted that this was the exact same area of the woods where Mick's Beldum had drifted off to.

"**Slam,**" Hannah's Pokedex read quite emotionlessly, "**a normal-type move. With a long appendage, the user gathers speed and proceeded to smash the opponent with it**."

Sounded just about right, but it wasn't any comfort to the devastated Urya.

At this, the Onix began to roar-laugh. "_What do you weaklings think I am?_" it demanded. "_I could play this game all day…"_

"_But you bore me, so this ends __**now!**_"

With that, the Onix took a breath, before it let out a horrific high-pitched wave of sound that washed over all of them; even Slowpoke was forced to roll over and moan piteously at the sound.

Alex, whose Pokedex had been first used to check the Onix's data, now spoke: "**Screech, a normal-type move. The user emits a hideously high-pitched sound, which stuns the victim and leave it open to attack with its guard down**."

Taking advantage of this, the tail of the Onix once more slammed into the ground in another Rock Throw.

This one was aimed at Blaze, who yelped as three shards of rock struck him, sending him tumbling. However, most of it had been overshot.

And, Hannah just happened to be right behind Blaze.

Still clutching the Puppy Pokemon, she was frozen as the rain of rock began coming closer. And closer. And closer.

Only the timely intervention of Starlight right out of his Pokeball with a quick Reflect managed to save the day, but by then she had already protectively covered the Growlithe with both arms and head-

When she realized that she was supposed to be dead or at least seriously injured a few seconds later, she looked up- And the Growlithe bounded out of her arms.

Stunned, she didn't know that it- He- had begun thinking of her as a sort of mother figure. And now, with the protective gesture, he used, well, _it_.

Charging across the ground, the Onix, though it saw the runt rushing at him, somehow didn't even come close to landing a single blow…

As flames began to gather over its skin, trailing behind it, the Growlithe hopped on the tail, which happened to be embedded in the ground, and began running up the entire length of the Rock Snake. All thirty-something feet of it.

And as it turned its head, to look at what was tickling it, the Onix was smashed in the face by the full force of the fiery charge.

The Onix roared in pain, somehow, as it toppled backwards onto the ground; in the meanwhile, the Growlithe _bounced _away, flames gone, and fell a good fifteen feet vertically.

Well, would have, if Hannah hadn't ordered Flora to do a sort of catching maneuver with her Vine Whip. The Bayleef, looking somewhat stressed as it carefully began doing waiter duty, transferred the whimpering Puppy Pokemon right back into the arms of her owner, where quickly wrapped her arms around it once more while she, in a state of semi-shock, began checking her Pokedex:

It said, again quite tonelessly- "**Flare Blitz, a fire-type move. The user flings itself at the foe wrapped in flames, causing serious damage. However, the user also sustains heavy damage as well**."

She looked down, and remembered how she had first met it- A bush exploding into flames, and then a large smoking ditch and then a Growlithe with more bruises than were physically possible on something its size.

_Oh_, was all she could think, before…

Something came floating through the trees.

It was gray in color with spikes to its sides, along with two red eyes on its disk-shaped body.

What was striking about it, however, was the two arms connected to it by two seemingly spindly thin joints- but it was floating, anyway. Floating four feet off the ground.

And then, there were the two sets of very much familiar claws that were part of rather thick forearms, which were _supposed _to be the oblong body of two Beldums.

But.

It was at this point, when the Onix looked up, that the newcomer raised its arm…

Whose claws happened to be glowing.

With that, it suddenly zoomed forward, and slashed at the Onix, cutting three deep gashes into the stone; the Onix, roaring in surprise, attempted to Slam it; it most certainly succeeded, sending the Pokemon through the air…

But before it had gone ten feet, it abruptly stopped, turned, and faced the Rock Snake once more, with something of a smug look in its eyes.

Urya was stunned, but the color of the metal body gave him a clue…

In any case, Hannah opened her Pokedex again, slightly unnerved by this newcomer who had the power- And the defense- To stand up to the much larger Onix.

And so, it said:

"**Metang, the Iron Claw Pokemon. This Pokemon is formed from the union of two Beldums who bond together, fusing both of their bodies and nervous systems together. The body of this Pokemon is so hard, it can survive even explosions without a scratch.**"

Urya now looked incredibly happy. "Ragnarok, I knew you'd grow someday!" he crowed. "I knew it I knew it I knew it- Oh, and what was the attack you just used? Iron Claw… Metal Claw-"

At the last two words, the Metang immediately boosted forward again, taking another vicious swipe at the unprepared Onix. This time it was across the nose, prompting it to throw its head back in pain-

"Flora, Razor Leaf!"

"Slowpoke, Water Gun!"

The two attacks, flying through the air, struck at exactly the same instant, alternatively soaking the rocky skin of the Rock Snake and slicing deep gashes- And now Synthia called out, as it roared its pain, seeking to thrash the closest Pokemon who happened to be the Leaf Pokemon: "Use Smog!"

Her Magby puffed up, and then puffed out, sending the sinister gas towards the eyes.

Onixes, being of both rock and ground-type composition, easily resisted the direct damage of the smog, but that wasn't the point- Rather, the point was to blind, and, if possible, poison.

It worked. Now thrashing weakly, poisoned, and blinded and covered in scratches, gashes, bruises, and soaking wet, it was a bit too much for it to handle.

With an earthshaking thud, it collapsed, and no sooner had it done so when Gale threw the prepared Pokeball before anyone could protest.

It went in, and three flashes of red from the button later, Gale Harper had himself an Onix- Weak, poisoned, battered, and very much angry, but still his.

* * *

**And so, that's that. Gale has an Onix... A very angry one to be sure. And, epic chapter length is good- At least in my opinion, since there's a lot less need for you to randomly click click and click "Next chapter!" **

**Until next time, guys... But remember to review! Pretty please!! With a... Uh, Slowpoke tail on top- ARGH!!**

***Gale violently mauls***


	30. I need more sleep

**Thanks to my fail-tastic amount of homework, I am now forced into a schedule of two weeks per chapter- If I'm lucky. Damn you, Safavid and Mughal Empires. This sucks. **

**I was partially distracted over the course of those two weeks- I had Shoddy Battle to distract me. If you don't know what it is GET IT NAO. Google it, for goodness sakes! **

**Oh, and just to let you know this is the last chapter that you can submit OCs for. One per person will be accepted unless I'm generous- After this chapter the window is forever closed. Sorry, guys... But two weeks is indeed a long time. **

**Without further ado, Happy Reading!!**

* * *

Beldums need two of their kind in order to become a single Metang. Elegant, but difficult, because for one thing, where the hell are you going to get two rare Pokemon?

This was the question that Hannah asked, having remembered the Pokedex entry about "two Beldums fusing" and so and such. As far as they knew, Urya did not have two Beldums.

The solution, however, lay surprisingly enough, with the most nerdy of the truck driving trio- Good ol' Mick, of course.

"Wait a sec, _I _have Beldum- Though it doesn't listen to _anything _I say-"

"Then it's gotta be your fault," Mikey snapped rather jubilantly, for once managing to accuse instead of getting accused by outside sources. "You were never a good trainer anyway-"

"What the- I didn't _want _to be one! I only got dragged into the damn trucking business because I didn't have anywhere else to go and this Beldum was my dad's gift and stuff-"

"Wait a minute," Urya said, eyes glinting, and called "Hey, Ragnarok!"

The Metang, hanging back since the conversation over his origins had begun, now floated forward, and Urya asked "Who does the other Beldum belong to?"

Immediately, the left arm was raised and now pointed at the surprised Mick…

Who then got a happy look on his face. "I _knew _you'd be something one day! I knew it, and here you are-"

The Iron Claw Pokemon gave him a dirty look before it turned away and floated behind a surprised Urya.

"Um…"

* * *

What really happened:

Ragnarok, having recovered from the impact, was despondent, both being stuck in a tree, and utterly useless against the Onix.

It was then that Mick's Beldum floated up alongside it, asking "_Need help?_"

"_Obviously,_" Ragnarok had replied quite morosely, as it jerked half-heartedly in his plight.

"_Hmm, and the thing is, I don't know anything except that Take Down thing._"

"_Don't all Beldums?_"

"_Can we do anything else, then?_"

"_Maybe_-"

Then it hit the Iron Ball Pokemon dead in the head. Well, the iron ball that was his head. Moving on.

"_Of course! We could fuse, you know… But then I'd have to get permission from your master-_"

"_Nah, don't bother. He's an idiot, anyway, so hurry up!_"

Long story short-

In a magical cackling of light, electricity and such, the two- Ragnarok got ripped right out of the tree- Slammed into each other with a violent _ping_, which at that moment was obscured by the roar of the Onix. It was then that the earth around them was torn open, and iron flowed up from the ground like water, fusing with the two- Slowly, the "head" of the two Beldums disappeared as the metal condensed around them. However, the thick metal bars that consisted of their bodies separated- Well, no, not _totally _separated.

Rather, two long metal stalks extended from the main body, which had now formed into a solid disc shape, and fused with the rippling bars of metal, on the opposite end from the claws.

Throughout the entire process, the iron that had flowed out of the ground was almost like a liquid- But now, as the new Pokemon hovered, it solidified, finally gaining spikes to its flattened side of its disc-shaped body.

"_Hey, this is a LOT better than by myself,_" the new Iron Claw Pokemon mused aloud.

"_Now, I __**think **__there was an Onix to be beaten up_…"

* * *

And the rest is history. Back in the present, Urya now asked in an innocent voice, "Who's in control? My Beldum or yours-"

"Should be yours," Synthia said, shrugging, "since the color is your Beldum's color…"

"But I thought it was a fusion, not a dominance thing," Hannah interjected. "Maybe they're just sharing, and the two just took on the gray instead of blue-"

At this, the Metang vigorously nodded, and the new owner once again turned to Mick. "Uh, sorry… But it _really _doesn't want to stay with you…"

Although he looked miffed, he decided to let it go; after all, hadn't he never had any respect for it anyway?

* * *

After his Pokemon had shaken off their wounds, he made a full rush through the cave- There was no telling when the colony of Bat Pokemon would come back to attack them. However, even though he had rushed down the tunnel where they had been recently fleeing, he encountered nothing all the way to the cavern where Ziri had been sealed out of.

However, this was the day after his bout with extreme hypothermia- Malachi had already cleared the way out.

And, to be sure, he should have considered himself lucky. Malachi had only come here a few hours ago- And into one of two caves that was opposite the teenager's location.

The point was, although the exact opposite from him had been the same tunnel that led into the underground streams of water, he had used logic and picked the larger opening- Which was good, though it had a suspiciously large number of rocks to the side of it. Moving on…

Now that he was out of the cave and had a few moments of tranquility, time for a bit of examination of his new Pokemon:

"**Croconaw, the Big Jaw Pokemon. Larger than their previous forms, these Pokemon have fangs that are slanted backwards, meaning once an opponent has been bitten escape by simply thrashing about is useless. If it loses any of its teeth through biting, it will immediately, in the space of seconds, grow a new fang back in**."

His jaws tightened into a satisfied grin- Wonderful. Ziri wouldn't, couldn't, and shouldn't be able to escape now.

But, what was that move again…? The move that had involved his Croconaw smashing into the hordes in a frenzy, and afterwards leaving him disoriented…

He quickly began scanning through the moves it knew. Water Gun, Bite, Scary Face, Ice Fang…

Wait a minute.

Was that move right there called _Thrash_?

"**Thrash**," the Pokedex chimed, "**a normal-type move. The user wildly assaults foes with any movement possible with all possible power. However, afterwards, the user then becomes confused after the rampage**."

Which explained the obvious fit of self-desecration afterwards.

He pocketed the Pokedex- "Move," he said curtly, "we can stop at the Pokemon Center."

Although they had looked disappointed at the first word, at the last seven they jumped up and quickly scrambled up- The boy, finally feeling some measure of safety, decided to just walk.

* * *

Union Cave took, in total, eight hours for Ziri to get through with all the detours that he had been forced to experience. Demetri took six and a half, which also counted the fact that he'd been forced to take some detours as well.

This kid?

He got through, on the count, in about five hours and a half. Though he'd run through some parts, he'd been held up by the swarms of Zubat, and besides any period of rest, though beneficial, did add more time to the stopwatch.

Now, Hannah and the gang took forty minutes to rush towards Union Cave. That was just the Route 31 entrance. Looking up at the imposing hulk of rock that was the cave, Alex asked "Do we _really _have to go in there…?"

"We _could _go through Goldenrod City," Synthia piped up. "That's how I got into Violet City-"

"And how far is that?" Hannah snapped. "We've already left Violet City, you know…"

Synthia gave her a dirty look as she fell silent, having been defeated at that point.

Urya didn't care; "What're we waiting for!" he practically shouted. "Ragnarok, c'mon!"

With that, he rushed right into the entrance, his faithful- Well, sort of- Metang shaking its head before it floated after him.

Gale sighed. "And it looks like he decided it for us…"

"Again," Alex chimed. Then she looked confused. "Wait, why did I-"

"Let's go already," Hannah groaned, and stalked off into the cave, praying that the klutz in her- Which had thankfully left her for today- wouldn't strike again, despite the fact she had her sandal-heels on- Like always. They might have only been two-and-a-half inches, but…

And she _really _needed a Pokeball for the Growlithe she held, who rested contentedly in the sort of nest that her arms- Her aching arms- were holding.

And she was also thinking about what the Nurse Joy, who had faithfully remained near the ruins, had told her.

One hour ago, she had asked her: "How come nobody got hurt in the explosion? Weren't there still some people inside?"

At this, Hannah was struck by how suddenly guilty the pink-haired nurse suddenly seemed to be looking; deciding to press the point…

"And what did the other survivors say? How did they manage to get out?"

It took a full minute of Hannah's suggestive looks before she had finally opened her mouth and said "One boy, your age."

At this, she blinked; "What's that supposed to mean? There are plenty of people my age-"

"There was this one boy your age, with brown hair and a Quilava that was injured by Team Rocket."

At this Hannah realized that she was undoubtedly talking about Ziri. With the Quilava and what the others had told her upon returning to Violet City only two days ago, it had to be her.

But something didn't sound right- Why did she say that Team Rocket had done something to Quilava? Hadn't Zailia been the only one to cause _any _injury to it?

Maybe Team Rocket had done something extra or something, but here in this backwater?

* * *

Ziri, a good four hours after he'd left Kurt's house, left with one Apricorn less and quite a few more convoluted thoughts more.

He was quite sure that whoever Kurt had been talking about was in fact his father, in both flesh and blood.

The only difference- What was with himself, shy, quiet, and very much anti-social, and his father, loud, boastful, and very much the opposite of himself? What was up with that? Norman back in New Bark Town had a father who thankfully paid no attention to Ziri, but otherwise shared exactly the same traits of personality. If that could be passed on…

_Why not to me?_

Why not personality, if not only looks? If he was such a carbon copy-

Then he remembered.

_Her_.

He remembered every moment of that fateful day. And, to be sure, every moment leading up to it, started back for so long…

He shook his head violently, and realized that he was dripping in sweat.

No, not the heat, though it was substantial- Rather, it was a cold sweat that chilled him far deeper than that.

_Get it out of your head… _

That "incident" was long gone. Long, long gone.

So why did it still haunt him so-?

"Uh, Ziri?"

He snapped back into reality, and found himself having drifted from Kurt's house, all the way to the other end of Azalea Town. That was saying something, since Azalea Town's western boundary before the Ilex Forest _was _Kurt's house.

Felix was in front of him, blocking off the way from where he'd come from yesterday, or so he suspected. "Yeah?" Ziri replied, secretly hoping that Felix hadn't seen the look on his face, whatever it was-

"Is something wrong?"

In his dreams.

"Yes," Ziri said automatically, then he went, fully on autopilot: "No, and if you ask further I'll slug you-"

Ziri then realized what he just said. "Aww crap, wait a sec-"

Felix, however, looked like his normal, somewhat-dopey or, as Ziri said, dead-looking self. "Really? And I know you said that out of instinct- I usually get that reaction."

_Usually get that reaction? _

Apparently, Ziri was not the only victim of the annoyance that came when you hung out with a guy who saw everything and missed nothing. "So, um… I guess I'll say that Kurt said that he'd make a Pokeball for me… For free," Ziri added, and Felix's eyebrows shot up.

"_Free_? But he usually charges-"

"Keyword: Usually. He decided to make an exception for me, since I did the hard work for him."

"Which was?"

"Taking the stem off the actual freakin' Apricorn."

Felix looked like he was going to faint. "_That's _all that he usually charges so much for?"

* * *

Malachi did not spend hours _anywhere _without reason. One of his morals- Live life like one day remains.

Therefore, one had to ask the question- _What_, then, had he been doing in Union Cave?

When he'd gotten back into the last cavern before the exit, he'd made a sharp left and gone into the entrance that Ziri had fatefully chosen only yesterday- Not that he knew that. Rather, what he knew was that when the Beta Squad had been chasing Demetri they'd found an underground current of water, and this had piqued Malachi's interest. That was all he knew, but it was enough.

Now, to see if those rumors of songs floating through the cave were true…

He'd walked all throughout the tunnel, and into the cratered and pocketed wall; there was nothing to say about that. However, he had done the same thing Ziri had done yesterday- Take note of the side tunnel, and then keep going forward.

So when he went back…

He now stood in front of the current.

Malachi already knew it was cold; a fleck of the water had flown through the air and hit his cheek. He recoiled from it, more from shock than the actual sensation; he had definitely felt worse.

_If there's any Pokemon that sings… _

_It'll be a Lapras._

This particular venture had been in the making for a long time, but the hitch was that the Rocket Executives- The ones right under Giovanni himself- had declared it to be a farce. It was more from spite that he actually held more sway in the organization than the four did, so that was no actual surprise. But, since he was out of surveillance- Well, he always was, but it was only now he had some free time to work on his own "projects"- nobody would know about this.

He called out a new Pokemon; this one was a species known as a Rhyperior, a rock and ground-type.

These things should not be able to use a move known as Surf and generally have the ability to swim in water at all, but somehow Mother Nature had given them just that. Malachi gestured toward the water, and his Rhyperior complied- First grumbling about the sheer cold with low growls, before he submitted to his master's will, standing just a few inches from the bank.

Malachi then stepped on, and with steps muffled by the water, the two, one on the other's head, began to make a slow, laborious journey to who-knew-where.

* * *

Felix had, only minutes before Ziri came into view, been rather brusquely shoved aside by a teen about the same age that Felix and Ziri were, wearing a cap that somehow seemed to hold in somewhat long…

At that point in time, Felix was forced to rethink over what he had remembered. _Was that green hair I saw_?

He was also quite battered and dirty, so it was no surprise that the Pokemon Center was the first place he made a beeline to. It was hot; at a good ninety degrees, nobody besides Felix, taking a stroll and stopping under the shade of a tree, was out.

Now, from the insider's point of view:

The boy that he had brushed aside reminded him of Ziri- But he had none of the hidden rigor that Ziri had in his pose, and his messy brown hair? There was no way somebody could grow that much in some four days or so. And the clothes- Oh, the clothes.

In the Pokemon Center, he decided to adopt an innocent face, which he didn't usually try to do but usually did it quite well when he did- "Excuse me, is there room for my Pokemon to be healed?"

"Oh-Oh yes," the Nurse Joy said brightly to cover for her nap that she'd just woken up from; business was slow these days. "Um… Please lay out your Pokeballs…"

He did so, all three: His newly evolved Croconaw, his Gastly, and his Zubat, which he currently had no use for.

_It might change…_

As she collected them and put them in a tray bound for the care room, he asked "Do you mind if I get a room for tonight…?"

She looked over him once, and instantly, noting his disheveled state, nodded and pointed to the cabinet on the wall to the far right of the Center. "Pick any key you like, but one's taken, just to let you know…"

That didn't set off any alarm bells, since he was so tired- But it should have. He _knew _Azalea Town, being deadlocked in the middle of nowhere by a labyrinth of a cave and a dark and foreboding forest of a rather large size.

So, who else would try and stay for a night in this backwater? A resident, who had his or her own house? It just didn't add up. But, if he had thought about it longer- Which he thought absolutely nothing at all- he would have realized there was only one person that he _knew _was here in Azalea Town, or otherwise somewhere close, judging from the testimonies of the survivors at the blown-up Pokemon Center on Route 31.

_Ziri_.

* * *

Felix was busy napping, a few hours- No, rather three hours later- when he realized someone was speaking to him.

"Hello? You there…?"

Was that a girl's voice?

"Um… excuse me, wake up…"

Demetri, having meditated for most of the day, was contacted by his Gardevior who had been doing a similar kind of activity that a gang of five kids and teenagers- One with a Metang, one with a Growlithe that looked rather battered- happened to be walking down the short stretch of road to Azalea Town.

_A weird gang of five_, Demetri thought as he ran down the list of people again. He now asked Gardevior to send him an image of them now…

Felix had moved some fifty trees to find an excellent shaded spot to relax under, and instantly fell asleep when he found a cozy enclave.

It was here, however, that Alex and the other three, fresh out of the cave, finally found Felix napping contentedly.

The trip through the cave had taken them a good four hours. With the paths cleared by Malachi and them having chosen the direct passages through the cave- Which actually ran in a straight line, despite what Ziri would have attested to- they easily walked through.

And as a bonus? No crazy Zubat wanted to flit around and suck on their blood. The colony had, strangely enough, flown all the way to the end of the same tunnel Malachi had gone into, the one that branched off into the underground currents.

The field commander had missed getting swarmed by them in minutes, but he would have managed to smash through _all _of them in one hit anyway- If you had a Rhyperior, then one could and more than likely would Rock Wrecker their way through anything. The tunnel was barely large enough for what a Rhyperior could through- If one survived, then it would have to be blessed by whatever gods existed.

So when that was out of the way, all they had to do was stroll down the exit tunnel, and out of the cave they were.

Not sure, however, if they were going the right way, they had then encountered Felix. Well, that was now.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and rubbed them, groggily shaking his head. "I was sleeping, jeez…"

It was then that he noticed that there was not one, but five people there. The girl who had woken him up was in front, wearing some kind of skirt and a blue T-shirt; next to her was another female, wearing ridiculously flirtatious clothes and hair with streaming pink highlights. To her right was a boy who looked quite stoic and unemotional, except that Felix managed to see through the façade, like always.

He was _really _uncomfortable being in the group. Especially, Felix realized, since there was a hot piece right next to him. With flowing, red hair that fell to the small of her back, she could have been declared a beauty even if she, well, _didn't _have one of the most obvious curves in the history of humankind. Besides the curves and her… _Assets_ there was always the fact that she was wearing clothes- Consciously or not- which advertised her features to the fullest.

It didn't help she was also wearing heels. But on the subject of her legs, her knees were rather scraped and her hands seemed rather raw, by extension (The Growlithe in her arms didn't seem to care, however).

There was also a rather curious kid with flowing black hair- Wait, that's not a girl, that was a boy. A boy with a Pokemon floating behind it called a… Uh… Metang? Was that it?

The girl looked relieved that she had finally gotten his attention. "Um, excuse me, do you know where Azalea Town is…?"

Felix blinked. "Um, you're on the only road that leads to it in these parts…"

The hot one sighed. "Didn't I _tell _you? This place is so much of a backwater, there's only one place of civilization around here!"

"Yeah, but there could have been other places," the older boy mused. "So," he continued, directing the next question at Felix, "How much farther is it from here to Azalea Town?"

" A few minutes," Felix said readily, then he yawned. "I need some more sleep-time-"

It was at this point that his Hoothoot jumped out and began waving its stubby wings at him.

"Aww, come _on_," Felix groaned, "It's not like I have your ability to stay awake like that…"

"I'll wake you up," Urya declared loudly, eyes glinting- "Lemme beat up that Hoothoot-"

Hannah chose to whack his skull at that moment. "You think of battling _now_?"

"What do you think? It's not like he wants to lead us there-"

"It's only a straight road," Felix yawned, as his Hoothoot looked on, exasperated.

Silence. Then:

"You know what, I challenge you anyway, so hurry up!"

Alex groaned, as Urya stalked over to the other side of the road. "Sorry about Urya," she told Felix apologetically, "but he can go _really _overboard-"

"Hurry up!" Urya yelled from the other side of the road. Then: "Alex, are you giving away my trade secrets!?"

Whirling around, positively enraged, Alex yelled back "Do you even _have _trade secrets, besides acting like an idiot?"

"No duh!"

Then he realized what he'd said. "Um-"

"C'mon, Hoothoot," Felix grumbled tiredly, and stood up, stretching. "So, uh… What do we do again?"

"You two are supposed to battle, despite what he's yelling," Gale explained, looking like he was attempting to reason with the world's most dangerous madman. In any case, Felix gently gestured for his Hoothoot to move in front of him…

"Ragnarok, Metal Claw!" Urya shouted, taking the initiative. With a _bing _of acknowledgement, the Metal Claw Pokemon raised a forelimb, with claws glowing-

"Hoothoot," Felix tiredly ordered, "Use Uproar."

Instantly, as the Metang began moving forward-

The piercing sound of a Hoothoot's cry blasted out from the beak of the Owl Pokemon, sending Ragnarok recoiling. Everyone except Felix and Hannah (She hadn't actually known what it had done, but she had, upon hearing something called _Uproar _brought her fingers to her ears) instantly yelped in pain; Blaze flung himself to the ground, only to have Alex's Eevees fling themselves on _him _as well.

The smell of burnt fur drifted around as the sound continued, through it, Urya shouted "Confusion!"

On evolution, his Metang had indeed learned this as well as Metal Claw. But, the Hoothoot only wobbled back and forth on its rapidly shifting single leg, barely affected by the psychokinetic force; Felix sighed, knowing that with the Metang's offense he wouldn't survive a single direct hit…

Which left one final option.

"Stop the Uproar and use Hypnosis!"

The piercing sound faded, but there was a hitch.

If you listen to music cranked up to the maximum, then you do not fall asleep _any _time soon. Well, there's the chance you will, but how long do you have to listen? In a Pokemon battle, do you have the time to use Hypnosis for hours on end through an Uproar? A literal, ear-piercing Uproar going on, right at that moment?

So, it faded, and as the Iron Claw Pokemon eagerly looked up-

Right into the glowing eyes of Hoothoot.

It tilted its head, timing the seconds perfectly, as Ragnarok began to wobble in mid-air; Urya, realizing what was happening, yelled at Ragnarok to snap out of it…

To absolutely no avail.

The Metang wobbled five times in total before it succumbed and dropped to the ground with a loud metallic _thunk_, eyes closed.

Silence.

Felix sighed. "Good job, buddy-"

His Owl Pokemon proceeded to turn around, fly into his face, and stay there, all the way until he fell over, hooting cheerily; in the meantime, Urya, looking quite stunned, could only stutter at just how easily his newly evolved, seemingly invincible Pokemon had fallen to the most innocent of all aliments- Sleep.

Felix, after finishing with his mumblings about his violent Hoothoot, motioned for the others to leave the temper tantruming Urya behind them and go forward. Good riddance, at least for a few minutes before he caught up, sullen.

* * *

The boy took fifteen minutes to heal his Pokemon; and he then proceed to rush towards the gym, easily the largest building in town. The doors, unlike the previous city, weren't blocked; so, he had no trouble pushing them open…

Finding himself in a room that looked very much like an overgrown, indoor lawn.

Well, no- Not _too _overgrown, since the grass was actually quite regulated- There was just no uniformity to it. There were growths of white- Naturally white- grass that seemed to serve as the boundaries and a line that divided the field- If it could be called that- into two. The line was broken only in the center, where a five-foot circle in diameter was formed.

Well, no, the straight line continued further in, being truly broken by a smaller circle inside the larger one. It formed the pleasantly familiar shape of a Pokeball, looking at it from above or looking at it from a view with suitable elevation.

At the far end, looking suitably bored, was someone in green field clothes and…

Wait a minute, was that a _net_ on a stick?

He was currently lounging around, talking to a referee. Was, until behind the boy the door slammed shut.

Looking up, the violet-haired… _Boy_ called from across the room: "You're a challenger, right?"

"Obviously," the teenager called back; why else would he waltz into a gym alone?

"Well then, I better get set up…" Setting down his stick of sorts, he motioned for his bored-looking referee to climb up on the high chair, dead in the middle of the field.

"Alright then," said referee began in a monotone, "This is a battle between the Leader of the Azalea Town Gym, Bugsy, and… What's your name again…?"

He had kept the policy of anonymity ever since Ziri had thrashed him that first time in Cherrygrove City; but now, with Team Rocket back in the news, who would care about a simple thief?

And therefore, he said his name.

The referee, bored as always, only nodded, before he now called-

"Send out your Pokemon!"

Bugsy, feeling rather confident that day, called out "Go, Kricketune!"

Out came a Pokemon that…

Had something that looked suspiciously like a moustache, as well as a pair of knife-like appendages as well as two, cape-like wings; looking at his hijacked Pokedex…

"**Kricketune, the Cricket Pokemon. This Pokemon has an amazing variety of cries, so many that scientists are still attempting to decipher them all. With these cries they signify emotions as well.**"

_A song's not going to save you here,_ the boy thought smugly.

Deciding to play it safe here…

Without a word he sent forth his Zubat, who stopped and made a sound that seemed like a snicker at its bug-type victim, but the boy wasn't sure…

"Zubat versus Kricketune- Begin!"

"Kricketune, Swords Dance!"

As the Cricket Pokemon began spinning in place, blades both lengthening and glowing-

Not that he'd let a chance to both disrupt an increase of attack power of his opponent and to temporarily lower its guard- "Zubat, Screech!"

The piercing wail filled the other side of the field as both trainer and Pokemon winced at the sound; taking advantage of this, the boy ordered "Use Wing Attack!"

As the Bat Pokemon flew forward, all the way from the other side of the battlefield, Bugsy took a quick look at the situation- And shouted in a calm tone, despite the punishment that his ears had taken, "Block it with Slash!"

Though as previously mentioned disoriented, the Cricket Pokemon was quick in bring to bear its scythe-like arm, perfectly blocking the wing that had been slicing forth.

Then- "Use your other arm in a Slash!"

Having analyzed the fact that Kricketunes had _two _blade-like appendages, he, by Bugsy's final syllable, had called "Fly back and use Taunt!"

So, long before the scythe had cut through the air where the Zubat was _supposed _to have been, it had flown back, waving its wings in a taunting fashion…

Looking enraged, the Kricketune rushed headlong forward, despite Bugsy's attempts at calming it down; smirking, the boy called again "Use Wing Attack!"

This time, the aim was true- Going forward, careless of its own weakness to flying-type moves, it was instantly prey to the vicious swipe by the almost magically-sharpened wing that tore an obvious gash on its side. The pain knocking it out of the Taunt, it nonetheless swiped out by instinct- and indeed nailed the Zubat solidly with a slice on the other wing.

It was instinctive and underpowered- But, screeching, the Bat Pokemon flew backwards, slightly off-center due to the new wound on its left wing; its foe was winded and in a state of pain from the blow that had been inflicted, the problem compounded by the fact it had been a super-effective attack…

He had it where he wanted it to be- That was enough the boy figured. As for the wound his Zubat was currently suffering from…

"Leech Life, now!"

Eagerly, the Bag Pokemon swooped down, clamping its fangs down on the bug-type. Although the irony showed up in Bugsy's mind that this was a bug-type move being used on a bug-type, it was of no comfort, for bug-types showed no resistance to their own moves…

"Kricketune, escape with Bug Buzz!"

The wings, which had looked thoroughly useless before, now came into play- As the Zubat who was still clamped down sucked just a bit more life out of the victim…

Those exact wings began beating at such a high frequency that the overly sensitive ears of the Bat Pokemon, attuned to the ultrasonic frequencies of its own making, let go, wailing in distress. Even the boy, who had no such degree of sensitivity but was now experiencing a nasty pressure in his own ears, saw the futility as his Zubat began flailing through the air helpless, as Bugsy eagerly ordered another Slash-

"Zubat, return!"

The red beam of light blasted all the way across the battlefield, making perfect contact with the middle of the blue back- The scythe that the Kricketune swung was useless in the attempt to cut through energy.

It was not kindness that had prompted him to do it- It was common sense. Zubats were frail, and Kricketunes had surprisingly large amounts of hurt packed in those scythes- So he had no way of attacking without getting one piece of the plan into jeopardy.

So no, it was not kindness. It was just cruel logic. Don't put part of the plan into the drain just because you're sure a type advantage will solve all your problems. Apparently.

He considered his options.

If Bugsy was to go physical…

Right before the referee opened his mouth, his hand closed around a certain ghost-type's Pokeball.

Well, then, he'd just ghost him. Pardon the pun.

With a careless, silent flick of the wrist, the red-and-white sphere the Gas Pokemon popped out in a flash, grinning quite evilly; the Kricketune looked highly offended by how it looked, before it began to absentmindedly sharpen its scythes…

"Gastly versus Kricketune- Begin!"

* * *

Ziri, although surrounded by his Pokemon and having been bathed in sunlight for the majority of the last few hours, was still weak hours upon hours after waking up from his hypothermia-accompanied bout of unconsciousness. So, to get himself back into shape he was throwing things.

Rocks, obviously. His life wouldn't be the same without rocks.

The unlucky target…

Was a tree, and he still couldn't nail it dead in the trunk ten times out of ten. He was getting up to five out of ten, though.

If he was lucky- Exhausted from a particular nasty session of throwing, he sat down, while Aipom dangled off his neck. Though it was slightly constricting, he didn't mind the grip; what else could she hang off from? A tree? The only one in the north part of town was this one, and the forest even in the afternoon looked quite dark and foreboding. And this tree was currently the target of Ziri's rock-throwing antics…

Quilava looked worriedly at his master- But he still stuck to whatever Ziri did. After all, he'd kept all his promises- He'd come back, albeit close to death, out of the cave, which was enough for the Volcano Pokemon. Dead masters are no masters at all.

But if it was one thing he was worried about, it was the fact that he seemed prone to overworking himself into the ground, judging from the current situation.

It was five minutes later, when Ziri threw a particular stone with a very large amount of spin by accident, when Felix led the gang of five behind him, yawning all the while, from the side.

The rock took a curveball path, which struck dead on the side- And on contact whizzed dead at Felix.

Well, not _exactly _at him. It passed half a centimeter past his jaw, but it was enough to make him howl in fear, having "felt" it graze him; instead, it actually hit Ragnarok, dead on the spike in the middle of its face. The Iron Claw Pokemon, already miffed from being Hypnotized once today, was severely unprepared for the rock that sent it flailing backwards.

Thankfully, Urya had taken the back, so Ragnarok was tagging along and only succeeded in mauling thin air with his arms; everyone could only stare at the Metang waving its arms drunkenly through the air, disoriented by the blow dead on the face-spike…

Slowly, after turning their head towards Ragnarok-

"Oh sorry- Wait, was that a god damn…. Overgrown Beldum?"

And then he realized that Felix was not alone.

One second later he realized _exactly _who those others were, and Ziri went pale.

"Oh, uh… Um… How's it going, guys-"

Hannah at this point quickly set down Growlithe and stalked forward; Ziri, reflexes still being subpar to his normal self, barely had enough time to cower as she raised a hand…

And grabbed both his shoulders and began to violently shake them- As in, violently, being bobble-head violent.

"Where. _Were_. You. "

She continued this violent manner of interrogation until Synthia suddenly swooped in from the side and pulled him out with an all-important jerk.

"Oh come _on_, let's leave this wallflower behind-"

Hannah at that comment was so enraged that she, of all things, froze up; Felix, watching this with mass bemusement, attempted to get in the way- "Um, you guys sure don't-"

"Don't _what_?" Hannah screeched, turning her wrath upon him.

It was at this point that, Ziri, helpless being dragged along by a rag doll, gave a weak call of "Um… Help me? Please?"

_War_.

* * *

It wasn't as if it was hard beating up the Kricketune; a few Licks succeeded in freezing up the Cricket Pokemon into all-consuming paralysis. Night Shades were all that finished it off; and now, Bugsy was contemplating his next choice…

The referee had already given Bugsy a good fifteen seconds and wasn't talking, but he didn't mind; Leaders with their authority never want to be pressured, especially when you're employed by them.

Half a minute- The Gastly only grinning and giggled quite evilly at the purple-haired leader, to which he had absolutely no response to- Rather, he just didn't hear.

"Oh, hurry up," the boy said loudly, now slightly annoyed; "I get your referee is your minion, but it's a minute now, in case if you were counting the seconds…"

Although said referee gave him a dirty look, he gave a reluctant look at Bugsy:

_You have to move_. _Now_.

With a sigh, he called "Go, Masquerain!"

With a flash of light, the Eyeball Pokemon appeared- And proceeded, of all things, to do something close to actually _scaring _the Gas Pokemon that it faced.

And the Pokedex merely said, when prompted:

"**Masquerain, the Eyeball Pokemon. This Pokemon uses its large antennae as wings, capable of flying forward, backwards, and sideways like a helicopter. It's eyeball-like wings easily frighten foes; however, it cannot fly in the rain, or otherwise when its wings get wet.**"

He grinned savagely; the way to take this ridiculous piece of garbage down was right here in front of him.

* * *

Girlfights are always embarrassing to witness; this one was no exception, and only ended when Hannah, taking advantage of the fact that she was wearing heels- Well, more sandal than that classification, but still with two and-a-half-inch lengths at her heels- and so stomped on Synthia's own toes rather spitefully.

As the victim howled and raged, hopping wildly on the uninjured foot all the while, Hannah snagged Ziri's arm and dragged him halfway across town into the Pokemon Center; the boy was very complacent in this.

Gale decided to for once not stay in the violent, unrestrained, and very annoying tempest that was Synthia Renata; therefore, he quickly hurried after the pair as they speedwalked across town. Noting that Felix now the current victim (In the time that they had been in the boy's company he had simply dropped his own name in passing), he shook his head at his fellow teenager's plight; nothing but divine intervention could save him now.

Moving on to happier matters…

* * *

Grabbing a chair at a table, Hannah proceeded to shove the petrified Ziri into said chair, where she then stalked across from him and sat down with a vengeance.

"Where the _hell _were you-"

Before she could finish the question, his mouth answered for him.

"Running from Team Rocket, meeting up with a violent criminal, jumping into Union Cave, and getting extreme hypothermia."

She just sat there, jaw quite loose.

Ziri realized he needed to explain- But how would _anyone _believe what he had gone through? He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Gale had just entered, no doubt in pursuit.

_And if you shut up you'll never know…_

So he told her.

Everything from Zailia's confrontation, to the bombing, and to the cave and all he had seen and gained there- His Bagon, and a bout of hypothermia.

Unnoticed by Ziri, the others had floated into the center in the amount of time that he took to tell his tale; different people heard different chunks of two days' events.

It took one hour to tell, but it took five minutes of silence to get any of them to break the silence.

"You lied to the Nurse Joy, then…"

It was lucky that the one currently serving Azalea Town wasn't actually on duty at the time, but Ziri still understood instantly what Hannah meant, and he quickly and vehemently defended himself, despite the thoughtful, not accusatory tone. "Oh, so you just wanted me to let them all die because I had info that they didn't?"

Everyone glanced at each other- Some uncomprehendingly, having come in pretty late- While Gale broke in. "That's not the point. The thing is, they would have killed everyone inside if _somebody_ hadn't warned them, and that was you. How did you know about it anyway?"

Only Felix and Hannah succeeded in noticing that Ziri suddenly went rather pale.

* * *

If there's water on a Masquerain, then that's the death knell. Three Water Guns- Two missed- and two Bites later with two Silver Winds taken, and Croconaw stood over his bug-type opponent victorious.

It was looking rather bad for Bugsy, and even he and the referee knew it; Bugsy was sweating quite obviously, the calm and rather preppy façade fading in the presence of looming defeat, while the referee looked rather terrified at the prospect of being forced to tell his employer that he had lost…

The boy coughed loudly, while even Croconaw, quietly scared of his "owner," couldn't help but loudly clack his teeth at his opponent's direction- As in, where his Masquerain lay, unconscious and covered with fang marks.

And that's when Bugsy suddenly had a rather bright expression on his face. "Okay," he said, his face neutral, "You got me."

And with that, he returned the defeated Eyeball Pokemon to within its sphere; the boy looked uncomprehendingly at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Unperturbed by the pulse of profanity, Bugsy slowly, calmly, and very much mockingly drew out a Pokeball. "You have me in a corner…"

"But it's not like it's the end you, you know."

If he hadn't had the self-control that he did, he would have exploded by now. "Will you get to the point?" the teen snarled through gritted teeth.

Without responding to the last one…

"Scyther, c'mon out!"

With that, a green, mantis-like Pokemon with _extremely _obvious scythes- Obvious, as in obvious to the point- literally- where the edge was finely honed and glinted in the light of the battlefield- and with a green extension along the opposite edge.

Wings sprouted out of its back, as it's almost lizard-like head snapped out, in a show of force; Croconaw stared back, unfazed.

"**Scyther,**" his Pokedex chimed, "**the Mantis Pokemon. This Pokemon's green body enables it to lie totally unnoticed in patches of grass, waiting for prey. When prey indeed arrives in range, it leaps out, slashing its scythes in strokes that are unable to be parried. It's ninja-like speed makes it almost invisible in those moments.**"

_Wonderful…_

_But it's not getting out of the way of what I have next_.

It was then that he noticed the referee grinning smugly as he called "Scyther versus Croconaw- Begin!"

He brushed it off; there was no time to waste. Time to crush that bug and get that badge, which meant trump card time.

"Croconaw, you know what to do."

The Big Jaw Pokemon shivered at the deathly calm tone, but steeled himself, getting ready for the crazed rush of adrenaline-

"Thrash."

And with that, he let out a howl as he threw himself forward in a wild flailing of all limbs-

"Dodge with Quick Attack!"

Quickly, with a hiss, the Mantis Pokemon zipped away, and true to its Pokedex entry it was nothing but a blur. It escaped the wrath of the Big Jaw Pokemon with ease…

And proceeded to literally disappear.

The teen blinked three times before he realized that it had gone well and truly invisible- Croconaw couldn't see it, judging from how it was now flailing wildly with absolutely no direction, just as he couldn't see it.

Maybe Bugsy could, but he was staring ahead, smirking; there wasn't any sign that he _was _informed of where his Pokemon was.

In any case, as the rampage ended with Croconaw now stumbling around aimlessly…

"Use Swords Dance, Scyther!"

Quite possibly Croconaw _could _have attacked, if it hadn't been for the fact that he'd found a particularly suitable rock for him to bash his head on. In any case, the Mantis Pokemon popped out, spinning rapidly, all while the blades began glinting with a white light.

It took three seconds- But that was all that was needed, for then Bugsy smugly called "Finish it off with "X-Scissor!"

Crossing the bladed, sharpened arms in front of it, which also now glowed green…

He suddenly had a rather nasty feeling about what might happen next, and yelled "Get away, you idiot, _get away_-"

It didn't help. Much. The last two words, maybe, but.

The Scyther rushed forward, its pose tightening all the while- And when Croconaw looked up, his confusion mostly shaken off, he was greeted with the sight of the insect closing in-

Barely having the sense to jump back, he was lucky- At the very least he wasn't taken down, then and there.

But it was close.

The X-Scissor, once the Scyther tore its scythes forward, sent a glowing afterimage in the path where the blades had torn through the air- And flesh, because as Croconaw was thrown back a good ten feet, howling, flecks of blood flew from the X-shaped wound on its chest.

Even Bugsy look a bit queasy by the bloodletting; the boy, being armored outwards as always, _barely _kept his composure- Considering the fact that it was his Pokemon taking the brunt of the blows.

And that was when Croconaw began to glow, lying there panting. A light blue aura that began enveloping the air.

_Torrent. _

Bugsy looked like he was doing some rapid thinking in the situation- But if it was down, so be it.

"Aerial Ace, Scyther!"

Bursting forward, in an attack that was almost an exact imitation of what Falkner's Fearow had once done…

"Ice Fang."

Immediately, the Big Jaw Pokemon opened his eyes, which were now completely blue, and rolled to the side. As the Mantis Pokemon changed course to compensate, however…

The fangs, now blanketed in glittering ice, chomped down on the extended arm that attempted to tear at it.

The Mantis Pokemon screeched in pain, attempting to wrench its arm out of the icy grip- But Croconaws, being Croconaws, don't have teeth that jut back for nothing. The ice began to spread up and down the arm, covering the scythe, arm, and going up to the shoulder-

"Get away with Slash!"

Bugsy was no idiot; he knew that Scyther, being a bug and flying type, was dead meat if he stayed in range of the freezing jaws. Said insect wildly swiped through the air with the second, unhindered arm, barely grazing Croconaw- But _where _was key, for it succeeded in grazing the wound previous made from the X-Scissor. Croconaw let go, recoiling on instinct, and the Mantis Pokemon sped away, its balance now screwed up because of the mass of ice on its right arm.

As Bugsy ordered in panic for it to break out-

"Croconaw, Water Gun."

The massive blast of water sent the Scyther, wailing, flying through the air, where it fell, twenty feet from where it started. As it began struggling weakly to get up, the boy opened his mouth to order the coup de grace-

And Croconaw kneeled over.

He looked at it, stunned and enraged, and snapped "Get up."

Nothing. Not even a single twitch of a muscle.

And the blood began to flow from underneath.

* * *

Back at the Pokemon Center, Ziri, after quickly realizing that he couldn't give away Demetri's identity- Or his involvement- decided on a very outrageous fib. He had told them all about what had transpired without a single mention of the outlaw, but...

"I was doing my morning warm-ups when up north I saw these people in black coming, so I decided to get the hell away… But when I stopped, I decided to take a look at what they were doing and stuff, so five minutes later and I see them _again_. So that makes me thinking about maybe warning the people in the Pokemon Center and the rest is history…"

That was said within ten seconds, nonstop. Everyone was slightly overwhelmed at the wall of words, except the two people who had seen Ziri's complexion grow pale at the question of how he had known.

So now they _sort _of knew. In any case…

"Have you gotten the badge this place has yet?" Alex asked, curious to see what the leader was like.

Immediately, Ziri glared at her. "I just had hypothermia in negative fifty-something water, and the next day I go and _battle _someone? Are you crazy enough to think I'm crazy?"

"Possibly," Hannah said pointed, and that made him faceplant on the table in front of him.

"My God, Hannah, do you want him to commit suicide or something?" Urya interjected. "Look at the poor guy, and his overly-low self-esteem-"

Ziri proceeded to throw a pen that had been lying on the table.

Which missed by a few centimeters. But that brought forth another faceplant. "See what I mean? It's been twelve hours- Still no recovery, despite the fact that this is freakin' _summer _and I've been out in the sun for pretty much the entire day."

"Yeah, well now you can't get me," Urya sing-songed happily, dancing in place.

"Oh, you little-"

Felix and Hannah both kept silent as others began to violently bicker over who got to take Urya apart, limb by limb- The question running through their heads was one of Ziri's trustworthiness.

Hannah, besides being one of two to hear about exactly how he'd told the Nurse Joy that Quilava had been injured by Team Rocket instead of Zailia's Absol, now had the suspicion that Ziri was telling these lies to hide someone. And what about the part about the violent criminal that only she had heard...?

It was a far-fetched guess, but it was awfully close to the truth.

* * *

**That, my friends, is that. Remember- THIS IS THE LAST CHANCE TO SUBMIT AN OC, IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY... OR JUST THROW IT AT ME AND SEE HOW I THINK OF HIM/HER. I just might be generous enough... **

**Remember to review!! Please!! With... Um... A... Oh yeah, a Croconaw fang on top!!**


	31. Sand and bugs

**Ugh, three weeks. God, life sucks like... Well, like, I don't know. It's just that bad. **

**In any case, I wasn't kidding last chapter- The OCs stop being accepted now. It's been a long enough run- Oh, the load! Sorry to sound cruel, but it's been six months since this fic began. **

**Oh well. This is the true chapter thirty, not counting the author's note. So, happy reading!!**

* * *

At that moment, the boy did not care whether he won or lost; rather, it was finding out how his trump card had apparently knocked his Croconaw unconscious, bleeding a river of blood from the X-Scissor wound in the process, which now stained the wild grass that grew inside the building.

As he stared uncomprehendingly down at his Pokemon's back, not being able to take in the sight of so much blood being lost, he would have been mortified to know that he was in the exact same situation that Ziri had been in, only three days earlier, except Ziri had succeeded in stopping the then-unevolved Cyndaquil from overusing it.

It then proceeded to evolve shortly after, and he won against Zailia in the end, after many explosions. But there were no evolutions, explosions, or victories for the Big Jaw Pokemon here; Croconaw had just evolved, and he had already fallen unconscious, down for the count.

"Croconaw is unable to battle. Please return it immediately and then send out your next Pokemon!"

He complied, with a shaking hand that almost made the beam that was emitted from the Pokeball miss when he pushed the button; as he put it back, he realized something.

As the Scyther was still woozy from the massive force of the Water Gun and much hindered by the massive block of ice that had grown on its right arm from the Ice Fang, he had maybe five seconds in total to capitalize.

So, immediately, he threw out Gastly once more, and barely had the referee announced the combatants and called "Begin!" had the boy shouted "Lick!"

Zooming forward, the Gas Pokemon quickly swiped its tongue over the face of the insect, eliciting a hiss of disgust- Which promptly froze in its throat.

Paralysis- It pretty much always worked either the first or the second time.

"Finish it off! Night Shade!"

The bolts of black splashed against the scales of the Mantis Pokemon, sending it stumbling and falling backwards on its right side, thanks to the weight imbalance; as Bugsy shouted desperately for a counter of Aerial Ace…

"Finish it! Keep using Night Shade-"

"Use the block of ice to deflect it!"

With a grunt, the Mantis Pokemon awkwardly swung his frozen right arm, which upon contact with the Night Shade sent the black energy flying throughout the gym. Not noticing this fact however, and believing that this was simply a particularly strong Night Shade, he simply watched, relishing his opponent's supposed agony…

On the third Night Shade after the first one that struck the ice, it shattered.

"Perfect!" Bugsy shouted in jubilation. "Aerial Ace it again!"

He didn't realize it.

He should have.

The Scyther had not yet lost the boost in physical offense from the Swords Dance- And since Gastlys had absolutely no way of resisting flying-type moves, it only took a single try before the Gastly fell with absolutely no sound at all.

If you're a Gas Pokemon, then…

He stared. The boy just stared, before he saw with building rage mixed with desperation that his Gastly had fallen and the Scyther's right arm was now freed from its icy prison.

"Gastly is unable to battle," the referee called with a ghost of a smirk on his face. "Please send out your last Pokemon!"

Silence.

Then, with trepidation, he brought out, one last time, his Zubat.

* * *

Ziri was still attempting to kill Urya, but he'd already tripped and _almost _fallen four times already. Hypothermia indeed had that effect- After the fifth time he gave up, and told his Togepi tiredly to use Metronome, who was busy chirping at the scene of apparent festivity…

Then everyone realized what he had ordered, and backed away, but Ziri, being so tired at Urya and everyone in general today just sat there in the seat that Hannah had so recently vacated in her evacuation of the scene.

As always, as the glowing of Togepi's fingers faded, there was the period of delay, while Ziri, resigned to his fate, looked dully at the Spike Ball Pokemon and grumbled "Hurry up already-"

"Togepiiiiiii-!!!!"

It was at that moment that the source of so much stress for the group in general began to randomly hurl… Wait, were those _eggs_? What the heck was this all about?

They weren't eggs in the traditional sense, as in how they burst open to shower people with whites and yolk. Rather, they were quite hard, bonking the poor person named Urya dead on the forehead so that, in bewilderment he fell forward; the spheres, surprisingly bouncy despite their ridiculous hardness, thankfully didn't wreck anything of vast importance to the center, if you could discount overturning and viciously denting some tables before Ziri and co. managed to stop the spheres, which appeared to have warped in from nowhere (They knew better than to mess with the logic of Metronomes).

At that point, though bruised on his forelimbs, he was nonetheless pleased.

At least Urya had shut up, with a big red mark on his forehead on the floor. It was a miracle that the Nurse Joy hadn't come back and viewed the destruction…

* * *

Bugsy grinned. "Nice fight you put up and all, but…"

What was worst about what he said was that it was true. Though he had a Pokemon immune to normal and fighting-type moves and with an incredible amount of resistance to bug-type moves as well, and a Pokemon with that kind of resistance to them as well, and something with all-bearing power…

It hadn't been enough.

"Scyther, Aerial Ace."

Nope. No response at all.

That was when all three people on the battlefield noticed that the Scyther had seized up in paralysis kneeling over- This was enough to rouse the boy from his state of rage-shock, and enough for him to work his jaw- "Wing Attack!"

One Ice Fang, which was super effective. One overpowered Water Gun. One lick, which had given it paralysis. One nasty burst of Night Shade.

And now, a super-effective Wing Attack. The Scyther had withstood all of that, but it was no match for the final, lucky blow that succeeded in clipping it under the neck, causing it to instantly gag and fall over, weakly thrashing-

"Supersonic!"

The purely instinctive ordered had more ramifications than all three people present in the building would have expected, as the sound waves that confused the insect sent it into a thrashing fit not unlike Croconaw's.

Except, there was one difference. Bugsy's Scyther had chosen to use Swords Dance in anticipation of a quick defeat of the boy's Pokemon- But he hadn't anticipated confusion to be added into the mix. A sharpened scythe slashed at itself…

To which it gave one final screech of agony as the sharpened scythe- It had been sharpened by the owner- cut deep into the exoskeleton. The irony didn't occur to the Mantis Pokemon, however, as it fell down, unmoving.

He blinked, before he realized that it had gone motionless…

Ten seconds. The Zubat simply beat its wings to keep further aloft, but slowly, ever so slowly as it dawned upon the referee that Bugsy had lost, partially struck down by his own scythe- Pardon the pun. Bugsy looked like he'd been slugging down serious amounts of alcoholic liquids, unable to grasp that he had aided in his own demise…

When he finally opened his mouth, the referee's voice was barely audible, declaring the challenger the winner- Obviously frightened of Bugsy's impossible wrath of the normally chipper guy.

"Okay, fine, you win… Nice thinking of using a confusion-move and stuff… But couldn't you have used Confuse Ray? I know Zubats can use that…"

It had been instinctive, he wanted to say, but that was only a very small part of his mind that wanted to do that- He was still stunned that he'd won, with his most useless Pokemon of all- A _Zubat_.

It was pathetic. But at least it worked. In any case, taking the badge Bugsy offered, he had enough sense to bow in respect, before he left, opening the door in a clumsy stumbling act…

* * *

Ziri was currently regretting accompanying Alex to her gym battle, about two hours later- Six o'clock in the afternoon. She had been interrogating him and Felix quite forcefully about who and what Bugsy was- On the way there.

The result- Ziri was more than wishing that he had stayed underground, freezing his butt off, while Felix simply turned off his ears and went into zombie-mode- Which Ziri proceeded to comment quite offhandedly that he had literally embodied the concept of the walking dead.

Hannah in her attempt to silence him punched him "a little too hard" which obviously sent him reeling backwards, blood once more flowing out of his jaw while he got another slightly confused expression on his face…

They decided to move on- Since he was Ziri and since he had survived for hours in a cave with severe hypothermia and gotten out alive by himself-

Yes, he had lied to them about that as well. The Lapras deserved to be, for now, kept a secret- He had a feeling that it was there for a good reason and did not want to get out. He didn't expect to see it again anyway- Union Cave was far behind him, and he never wanted to go there again.

The second part was true.

The first part, however, was not.

It was here, as he was getting up, customarily grumbling about the violence of his female companions (He included Alex in this list, though she hadn't actually _done _anything to him- But the thing was, she had _caused _him pain, which included prompting him to bash his skull against trees) that a familiar voice that had a hint of mirth in it said, aloud, "Nice gang of friends you have there…"

"Ziri."

Whirling around from the direction of the gym that he had been walking towards, a grin on his face, said teenager replied:

"Well, well, the hell took you so long, _Bale_?"

Demetri- or Bale- Was rather disoriented by the sudden change in name, and was about to icily retort that his name was in reality Demetri when in reality it was really Bale when Ziri continued: "Okay Demetri, I guess I owe you my life on this one… And no, I didn't tell anyone. And will you _please _come out already? They've been long gone…"

Stepping out from behind the foliage that he'd been concealed behind, Demetri faced Ziri once more. "So, going up against Bugsy, eh…"

"You know the guy?" Ziri said eagerly, dying to know the stratagems of his future opponent.

Tough luck- Demetri brutally and quickly shut down his hopes with a short "No."

Ziri, however, quickly reacted with quick "What else are you here for, anyway?"

"Team Rocket," he announced calmly, noting Ziri seemed to tense up slightly, "seems to be a bit more active in the area, so I'll see what I can do for the town as a service and flush them out…"

It was good cause, Ziri had to admit, but he was still suspicious- Felix had given away nothing about a presence in the town that was out of place- Besides, well him. In any case…

"So, can you help?"

That came so suddenly Demetri instantly responded before his brain could think it over- "With what?"

And that sealed his fate. Immediately, Ziri speed-walked over- Considering that it was Ziri and he was almost fully recovered, which meant that he literally warped besides Demetri a second later- and proceeded to drag him deeper into the woods.

It was only five seconds into the absurd trip into the forest that he realized that he was being manhandled, for the second time in two days, by the same fifteen year-old- He was being kidnapped.

* * *

Because this was Alex's show, she led the way far ahead of the others- So she slammed open the doors first and yelled "Whoever's the leader in here better get ready, because I'm going to-"

She proceeded to rattle off the list already prepared for the things of what she was going to perform upon the Leader, which also had the unfortunate side effect of catching the hapless referee in the vicious verbal vortex.

"-Rip him into pieces, bite him in half, scream till his ears fall off-"

Bugsy, who had been in a somewhat comatose state since he had lost, perked up at this, and called from his chair on the other side of the building- "Whose ears?"

Immediately, she quieted down. "Oh, sorry, referee… But I was just prepping myself for a battle with the leader here-"

"And who do you think the leader is?"

And that was when she realized that the young man from across the field was far likelier than the older one cowering before her now-contained wrath to be Bugsy, as declared by the building's sign- He, after all, actually had the net on the stick draped across his shoulder, ideal for catching bugs.

Well, duh, but here embarrassment wasn't over yet- Hannah now judiciously whacked the back of her head, all the while declaring "You idiot, now you're going to get us all kicked out because _you couldn't tell who was or wasn't the freakin' gym leader_!"

The last part filled the building with an ominous, multi-sounding echo.

"Actually, not really," Bugsy yawned, breaking the silence. "I sort of needed the challenge… Anyway, can we get set up already…?"

Immediately, the cowering referee scampered away from Alex, determined to make sure the distance between them was the maximum possible, while Alex unconsciously complied, putting on her game face as she stepped up to the edge of the field…

* * *

Ziri kept dragging- And dragging- Until, by pure accident he stumbled across where Demetri's Tyranitar had cleared out a section of the forest, turning it into a surprisingly neat clearing. Said Armor Pokemon was dozing off, on the other side, but on Ziri's loud, branch-breaking entrance it instantly woke up- And had no clue what to do with the boy who was _manhandling _his master. '

Nobody had ever even made a move to do this- What was he supposed to do now?

The question answered itself, when this child released Demetri and loudly declared "Can I try taking that thing over there down?"

Demetri was stunned, and so was Tyranitar.

"You- You," he began stuttering, before he finally regained full control of his jaw- "You want to take down a _Tyranitar _with- With a Quilava, an Aipom, a newly hatched Bagon, and a Togepi? Are you _insane_?"

"You think that label hasn't been already put on me before?"

Thinking about it, Demetri was forced to admit this teenager was the definition of insane- As in the unrestrained, to-hell-with-the-torpedoes-charge-forward attitude that he was currently displaying.

But…

"Tyranitar, terrorize him for a bit…"

The Armor Pokemon had never been forced to deal with children before, but in any case, he began to stumble forward, ready to grab and maybe throw the child- _Lightly_, as per orders-

Not like Ziri would let him come three feet near. Ziri reached downwards for exactly one red-and-white sphere on his belt, while motioning behind him. Demetri backed away, still thinking he could beat in Ziri's skull a lesson...

The lesson was to never mess with Tyranitars in his current situation. That lesson, however, was lost, for he now threw that sphere into the air, calling "Quilava, Flame Wheel!"

At the same time, with a pattering of his feet, the Bagon blasted out of the bushes, and immediately began chattering.

"_Ohhh! Ohh! Ohhhh!! Can I fight you? Fight you? Please? Please? C'mon, don't be shy, I'll go easy on you-_"

Tyranitar stared uncomprehendingly at Bagon- "_Do you even __**know **__the size difference between us-_"

And that's when Quilava, wreathed in fire, slammed into him.

The impact was enough for him to have stumbled backwards, but it had hurt Quilava more than it had hurt the target, mainly because of how hard the outer layer of rock on the Tyranitar's body was; in any case, the Armor Pokemon now laughed at the apparent pathetic show of power that served nothing but to make a small, insignificant burn-

"Bagon, Hydro Pump!"

That almost made Demetri's blood run cold.

"Tyranitar, get away-"

The Armor Pokemon was still intent on pursuing the fleeing Quilava- Who was fleeing with good reason- didn't even see the massive pillar of water until it was too late.

Said Tyranitar was lifted off its feet- If this could lift an Onix, which actually weighed more than Tyranitars, off the ground for even half a second, then it most certainly could to Tyranitars- and sent it flying through two trees.

Silence in the clearing.

And then the Armor Pokemon slowly got up, shaking itself to get the water off- And looking quite angry. In fact, even Bagon was so intimidated that the Rock Head Pokemon drew back slightly, the angry demands of why it hadn't died on the first try petering out in its throat.

Behind them, Demetri sighed. "Tyranitar, stand down…"

Although the Armor Pokemon complied, it did so reluctantly, making sure to keep a close eye out on the Bagon in case it attempted to attack again- Ziri, noting this, quickly made an apology.

"Sorry about that, but you didn't look all that tough-"

At this, the Tyranitar gave him a beady stare.

_Wanna try me? _

"Never mind," Ziri quickly said, and faced Demetri. "Well? You said you'd help-"

"What the- I didn't say _anything_!"

"So? The fact that you asked _what _exactly I needed, so you told me that you were going to help."

Deciding not to argue further with the twisted logic that Ziri was talking under, Demetri decided to give him a kind of warning-slash-threat. "Okay, so you want the most brutal training available?" he asked sneakily.

Ziri instantly nodded, and Demetri cursed himself for not having realized earlier that this person was obviously out of his mind- Why else would he have taken on a Tyranitar without any hesitation? "Fine, then hurry up and get to the other side," he now snapped, gesturing violently to a spot bordering the trees, fifteen feet from where he stood.

Quickly, Ziri got over to where Demetri indicated- And then realized that in the space of the three seconds that it had taken to get over Demetri had both switched out Tyranitar and sent in a familiar figure- His Scizor.

"Try training against _this_."

It stood both still and silent, daring Ziri to make a move- In any case, he quickly flipped open his Pokedex…

"**Scizor, the Pincer Pokemon. Scizor's hardened outer shell changed when it evolved from Scyther- It lost its ability to camouflage itself and also lost much of its speed in the process. However, this Pokemon has far-improved abilities in both offense and defense, using the patterns on its pincers to both intimidate, and when the situation calls swing down the pincers with dangerous force.**"

_Wonderful… _

"You do know that Bugsy is known for his Scyther," Demetri said from across the makeshift clearing in a musing tone. "So, I believe it will help if you fight its evolved form-"

"And why should I?" Ziri retorted. "The freakin' Pokemon got what, twice as heavy and twice as powerful, and apparently it can't camouflage itself-"

"The offensive style is still the same," Demetri said dismissively. "The only thing you have to worry about is whether or not you can dodge the swinging pincers… Or scythes, depending on which one of the evolutionary stage you're talking about."

_True_.

Without further ado, he nudged Quilava forward, noting that Scizors were still bug-types. It did also occur to him that steel melts before flames- So, he'd just melt his way through then.

"You said that Scizors didn't have speed?" Demetri asked quite slyly.

"Obviously," Ziri replied, "You don't get a coat of armor for nothing, do you?"

"Well, at least you have _some _sense. But, let me show you true speed. Scizor…"

"Bullet Punch."

Before Ziri could laugh it off and order something, maybe an Ember or Flame Wheel, the Pincer Pokemon zoomed forward at frightening speeds, and slammed a red, eye-adorned pincer into the Volcano Pokemon. Quilava flew through the air, too winded to even sound out his pain- But this time Ziri didn't even hesitate, and just looked into his Pokedex once more, though he berated himself for not having at least _said _something to Quilava, as it began to try and get up…

"**Bullet Punch, a steel-type move. The user draws back its hardened appendage, then rushes forward and slams the opponent with it with the force of a bullet, the speed allowing the user to attack first in an exchange**."

"Wonderful," he grumbled to himself, realizing that the speed alone negated the difference in agility; then, in a louder voice, he called "Let's show them your speed- Quick Attack!"

Demetri was not baited into laughing at this apparent bit of idiocy- "Scizor, use another-  
"

"Use the momentum for a Flame Wheel!"

_Ah. _

"-X-Scissor!"

Knowing that Scizors had double weakness to fire-type moves certainly aided his decision to instead of making contact to use a kind of energy barrier- In this case, a greenish-yellow streak of light that began to gather over the hanging edge of the pincers…

With a hiss, the Pincers Pokemon brought it into a cross over its red chest, as Quilava, covered in fire, leaped at him-

And then both overhanging sharpened edges slashed in a cross, the axis point where both streaks of light met making perfect contact with Quilava's fire-wrapped spherical form.

For half a second they remained there- Before, like against a Night Slash, the big bang occurred.

Ziri was forced to flatten himself against the trunk of the tree behind him to avoid actually slamming into it- He yelled out the name of his best friend out of concern, but it was lost in the sound of the explosion…

* * *

As the gang filtered into the bleachers, Hannah stopped.

Why did she hear the sound of an explosion…?

Besides her, Urya also noticed- But he didn't care. Ziri was Ziri, and he'd just ask about it when he came back.

The thing was- He wasn't _going _to come back. He was already consigned, for the next hour, of absolute training and madness.

* * *

Quilava got up, slightly easier than Scizor had done- The Pincer Pokemon was all too susceptible to heat, thanks to his typing, and explosions created plenty of that. Besides, being far more experienced and of a more rigorous background certainly helped the Mantis Pokemon stand up- But Quilava was protected by the sort of barrier that was created by Flame Wheels anyway. All Scizor had was the outer shell.

And the wings. As the smoke cleared, it became obvious of a small vortex around the Pincer Pokemon, which had an obvious origin- At least, once the dust had settled. The wings. The small, almost useless-looking wings.

They were rapidly flapping, the wind blowing across the metallic exoskeleton, while Demetri sighed. "Fire-types… Always a problem for my Scizor."

"Anyway, use Giga Impact."

Ziri instantly paled- "Quilava, get away! _Now_!"

He had no doubt Demetri was more than serious, as he himself had already agreed to demonically brutal… _Exercises_, if they could be called that.

Quilava raced away- But suddenly found himself up against a large stack of logs that Tyranitar had created.

Frozen in panic, he half-turned his head, his eyes rapidly flickering between the charging Scizor and the solid wall of wood that he couldn't burn through fast enough- Besides, the sides were so steep that it would have been impossible to jump over-

To _jump _over, that is, but Ziri's oddly rapid talent for improvisation now perked its metaphorical head.

"Jump on and off the wall!"

Demetri then thought: _What the hell is that supposed to mean-_

Then Quilava leaped up, four limbs making contact with the wall- And then all four shoved against it, putting all his faith in his seeming invincibly wise master-

Upwards.

Scizor, still boosting forward, was stunned into… Well, just going forward as the Volcano Pokemon flipped over him, his back arching in a loop just as to miss the top of the gold-colored barrier that formed in the Pincer Pokemon's front-

With an explosive series of crashes, Scizor smashed right through the makeshift wall of wood and proceeded smash through, in his mostly petrified shock, around ten trees in his path before he managed to stop…

* * *

The rather explosive training did not make itself unnoticed- This time, a rather large number of people inside the gym heard the sound of trees being smashed to pieces in rapid succession. The last time had gotten some birds up in panic- Now, however, a whole flock took to the air, squawking with indignation of their territory being absolutely decimated…

They all simultaneously turned towards the front door- "Um, shouldn't we go out and check on what's happening-"

"Oh, don't mind," Bugsy said dismissively, "It's not like it'll wreck the gym or anything… Besides, the birds always go ahead and fly up at _anything_ that happens around here."

Alex wasn't going to argue with that- So, she then pulled out Pidgey's Pokeball and looked quite suggestively at the referee.

"Uh, um… Oh yes… This battle is between-"

* * *

Ziri needed to wait only fifteen seconds before Scizor charged out of the hole in the trees that the Pincer Pokemon had made, hissing in unrestrained fury at the runt who had made him waste so much effort into trees. Useless, useless trees!

The Volcano Pokemon stared back defiantly at the implied message. "_You think it's __**my **__fault you went through something like… Twenty trees?_"

"_Oh, you __**will **__die,_" the Pincer Pokemon hissed, but that was before Demetri calmly returned him, to the immense surprise of the returnee, Quilava, and Ziri.

"Um, why did you just do that?"

"Because," he said calmly, "Your Quilava obviously beats my Scizor in speed… Even if he does have Bullet Punch to use."

Without a word, he now sent forth his Gardevior, the Embrace Pokemon looking quite emotionless in the presence of the one who had quite viciously shoved her mental probe backwards- before, on a whim, had let both her and her owner in.

Of course _Ziri _didn't know that. But moving on.

"Gardevior, Reflect."

Immediately, a large rectangular force field colored gold appeared in front of the Embrace Pokemon- Ziri had already seen this in action, and knowing that this would make his physical maneuvers pretty much useless.

So-

"Add a Light Screen to that."

Ziri viciously cursed under his breath as this time yet another barrier spread across Gardevior's front- Now both modus operandi were blocked off…

A thought occurred to him, though.

"Bagon, c'mon…"

He motioned for the Rock Head Pokemon from across the field- Happy to rejoin the battle, he bounded forward, chattering cheerily as even Gardevior couldn't resist staring.

"_Yayayayay, kill time kill time kill time-_"

Gardevior loudly coughed with a delicate white limb.

"_Oh, you're just jealous of the fact that I'm bigger than you! Wahahaha!_"

By the offended look on the Embrace Pokemon's face, Ziri was getting the feeling that he was in possession of the Pokemon equivalent of Varacei "Urya" Alger…

* * *

Said boy was rather bored.

It wasn't as if the battle wasn't exciting- Rather, it was that Alex had stuck to the principle of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The thing not needing fixing till now was the strategy that Alex had adopted of simply using Gust until the Kricketune that Bugsy had sent out first kneeled over.

The Masquerain that was next sent out actually had dodged every one of the five that had been thrown at it in the current phase of the fight, but sooner or later it would hit and that would be the end. So, Urya was busy yawning his way through- And he wasn't alone, for pretty much everyone stared at the battlefield with glassy eyes.

If Ziri was there, Hannah was thinking, he'd actually give them a hell of a show compared to yelling "Gust!" Five seconds later, "Gust!"

Rinse, repeat, repeat ad nauseum.

All the while, quite sneakily Bugsy had been calling "Calm Mind!" to which Alex took no notice of- Even though the Eyeball Pokemon had glowed a small shade of blue at every command.

Three Calm Minds later, Bugsy made his move, to the shock of the repetition-numbed crowd.

"Masquerain, use Water Pulse!"

It was during the lull here, when the Pidgey itself was quite bored, that the Eyeball Pokemon created from out of nowhere a sphere of clear, light blue water- Which proceeded to fly dead at the Bird Pokemon.

No, an actual sphere was not fired at Pidgey. Rather, the water, ripping outwards thanks to contact from the air, expanded into an almost solid wall in the middle of the air, aided by the three Calm Minds that had been used…

And so it happened that rather viciously the Bird Pokemon was smashed into the opposite wall, five feet above Alex. And to add insult to injury, she got soaked. After all, if you spray a water pistol at that velocity do you _honestly _think that the water would just stick like runny- Very runny- glue? Really?

On that subject, Alex looked as if the world had fallen on the wrong side of its head. But in reality, all she had done was give her opponent an opening so large that Bugsy just _couldn't _resist.

"Man, she should have seen that coming _hours _ago," Felix said sleepily.

Well, sort of. Felix had actually been observing all this time, but he was adhering to the rules- No helping anyone. Everyone else, however, hadn't even _seen _the blue glow that had blanketed the Masquerain three times before the very sudden end had come- And now gone.

* * *

It was a drag.

That was all that could be said about what had happened between Bagon and Gardevior- Ziri took the initiative with something besides a Hydro Pump.

He'd gone with a Headbutt, which had simply bounced off the combined force of the two screens. Ziri had known about the two, and had gone with a head-attack in an attempt to take advantage of the steel skull that Bagons appeared to possess- And it did, for after it bounced around for a few seconds he jumped up, quite annoyed…

Just in time to see Gardevior, looking bored, gathering the energies of a Dark Pulse within her two arms.

Ziri didn't need to _tell _Bagon to run- He did it himself. The burst of black left an identically-colored scorch mark where Bagon had been standing, while said Rock Head Pokemon was busy running around in childish panic.

No, wait. It _was _a child.

Gardevior sighed and began gathering the energies of a Focus Blast within her two arms-

And that's when Ziri, with sudden triumph in his voice, yelled "Headbutt!"

The childish panic, had, in reality, been a sneaky cover for the true intention of what Bagon had been doing- A simple act of sneaking _around _the Light Screen and Reflect. And now, surprised at the sudden impact on the side of her head, Gardevior stumbled- And inadvertently prematurely blew the Focus Blast.

Bagon had bounced off Gardevior's head and gone _behind _her; so, unharmed, he was nonetheless surprised by the figure flying over him.

Demetri stared.

In all his years, he'd never seen such crazy tactics- Or maybe it was because he was underestimating this guy and his extremely devoted Pokemon…

Gardevior got up, a grudging respect in her eyes; much of the explosion's force had rebounded back from the Light Screen, adding to the absurd momentum imparted from the first part of the explosion. In any case, she was unprepared for the next call of "Run away!"

Demetri was not fooled by this form of cowardice- It was time to crank up the seriousness.

"Psychic."

Ziri viciously swore under his breath at that, as the Rock Head Pokemon stopped, himself confused at why that had happened- And then, surrounded by a purple aura, he began to rise upwards into the air, now yowling from the crushing pressure…

"Hydro Pump!"

* * *

Dark, being the Eevee that he was, didn't stand still- At least according to Alex's orders. The fact was, however, that the Masquerain was all too powerful to be attacked directly- One Water Pulse and even at full health he would take the temporary dirt nap. The previous example of Pidgey was enough.

The score was even,w ith a rather large advantage leaning on Bugsy as Dark weaved, ducked, Quick Attacked, and simply ran to avoid the Water Pulses and on occasion the Silver Winds that came his way. He just _couldn't _do anything.

"Sand Attack- No, run for it!"

This was actually the fifth time that had happened, as the embattled Alex suddenly noticed the signature sphere of liquid of a Water Pulse. As Dark dashed away, the patch of grass that he 'd been standing in was instantly drenched- Even the Evolution Pokemon couldn't avoid _all _of the water.

At least, though, getting an impromptu bath was better than getting pulverized by the very thing you bathed with…

Then Bugsy made a bad move.

"Use another Calm Mind!"

Unlucky for him, trying to end it sooner. It was an admirable goal, but one with risks that Alex unwittingly took advantage of.

* * *

Rhyperiors hated the cold- But nonetheless this one under Malachi's persevered. It helped that it had the ability of Solid Rock. In any case, they'd scarcely trudged down through the tunnels for maybe two hours when they saw it.

The Lapras was actually moving away from them, but Malachi had simply ordered it, an hour back, to use Rock Polish.

When it had been done past the glowing lights that surrounded the bulky joints, at almost double the previous speed the Drill Pokemon advanced down the narrow current, so as the two rounded a bend- The same bend where Ziri had slashed his arm just yesterday- When the two saw the bluntly-spiked shell that was signature of all Lapras.

Softly, he said "Rhyperior, Thunderpunch."

He didn't expect the massive impact from the heavy forelimbs to strike out at the Transport Pokemon to strike from this distance without, even with Rock Polish.

Rather, he was using the fact that water-types in water are suckers for getting electrified. And the user was a part ground-type.

The electricity traveled fast- In a second's time, the Lapras cried out in pain as the water cackled with glowing yellow strands of lightning flowing through the channel, and spun around, brown eyes blazing-

The expression of outrage at being sneak attacked, in its mind by maybe a member of the Carvanha pack that had sought out revenge for yesterday was instantly replaced by one of confusion- What was this human doing in this cave? Only the boy from yesterday had been the first one in years to have witnessed the Transport Pokemon actually inside.

Now that he had gotten its attention…

"Rhyperior, Stone Edge."

Grunting, the Drill Pokemon got a look of concentration on its face as it began to glow blue- It was then that shards of stone instantly snapped off from the sides of the river, and silently floated, sharpened edges pointing at the Lapras.

With a swipe of its forelimbs, cutting into the spray, the deadly projectiles whizzed forward-

Only to stop, a mere inches from its target, whose eyes…

Malachi's eyes narrowed.

This Pokemon, no doubt about it, knew Psychic. It was obvious by how both eyes and the objects it had suspended in midair were glowing in a shade of mysterious purple; in any case, with a twitch of its head the Stone Edge was actually returned in equal speed to the sender-

"Hammer Arm."

Raising both arms, now glowing an illuminating white, the Rhyperior then slammed them down forcefully. Never mind the spray- Most of it had been directed forward, through a few drops did hit the prized, signature trench coat. But it would dry off; the main point was that the returned Stone Edge was instantly pulverized.

The Lapras now opened its mouth, in an obvious bid to use something that involved water-

"Rhyperior, another Thunderpunch."

The electricity instantly spread through the water, resulting in the Transport Pokemon jerking in shock; in the process, Malachi took the opportunity to order yet another Stone Edge.

This time, three of the ten shards succeeded in striking the target- One of the larger gripes Malachi had with the move was that it had a rather annoying chance of not actually being able to hit anything. The more important part was, however, that at least _some _of the shards could hit, and that's exactly what happened- Some of the shards nailed the front of the Lapras and dug in, drawing cries as they fell away, leaving large red bruises…

"Another Thunderpunch, then," Malachi loftily ordered.

This time however, the Lapras used Psychic yet again- On itself, so that it levitated above the water, almost scraping its head against the ceiling. Malachi recovered from his shock almost immediately- By sending out his Drifblim.

The Blimp Pokemon immediately rose to Malachi's eye level; now he said "Ominous Wind."

With a flick of the tassels that adorned its bottom part, it sent forth a purple-laced gust of air; the Lapras shuddered at the sensation of feeling it wash over its skin- But it didn't seem to be seriously harmed…

It dropped back to the water with a splash, but this time instead of putting up a fight it quickly turned around, and with the aid of a Psychic, judging from the pink glow around its body, rapidly began retreating from them.

_Let the chase begin_.

* * *

It wasn't very often that battles got decided by how much sand got sprayed into your opponent's eyes- Now, however, it was very well the case as sand in droves was blasted at the poor Masquerain.

Six Sand-Attacks later and the rather small _real _eyes that the Masquerain possessed were next to useless; So, Alex happily ordered Dark to Tackle like there was no tomorrow.

The result- Although the Masquerain was stronger and had the benefit of having used three Calm Minds- Well, four, actually- The accuracy issue had driven it to the point where it was impossible to land a single hit within ten feet of its smaller, foxy foe. Sure, the spectators had _almost _gotten soaked once- Or twice- but they were bored anyway. First it was overuse of Gust, now it was war-weariness that Alex was going to lose. Now, there was another exciting event- Tackle until it dropped! Hooray!

Alex looked as if she was in heaven- Dreamily, she told Dark- "Keep doing that, and we'll win this in no time…"

She'd win- But not with the one she was talking with.

* * *

It hadn't gone very well, Ziri had to admit as he leaned against a tree.

For one thing, Demetri really had no kid gloves to begin with.

For another, his Bagon was insane and kept walking into the paths of Dark Pulses- Well, they didn't do much damage anyway, since they always hit his rock-hard skull first. It helped to be stubborn- If you had a million years to waste jumping off cliffs.

Nothing Ziri did after that worked, mainly because of the double barriers that reflected both physical and special attacks- So he'd tried another "run-away-while-in-reality-outflank-the-SOB" maneuver.

It actually _sort _of worked- Mainly because Gardevior looked slightly disgusted at the wild screaming.

Then, she turned towards him, just as Ziri ordered another Headbutt- Which caused the screen to shift dead into Bagon's path.

After that, five minutes later, the inexhaustible Rock Head Pokemon was overpowered by one last Focus Blast that managed to strike it on the stomach.

Ziri, scared by the prospect of it getting internal organ damage, rushed over, and gingerly felt the massive bruise on its belly- For once, he was relieved that it was over, despite the twinge of anger at Demetri- But it was his own fault anyway.

Hadn't he asked for it…?

The one thing that he'd learned- How to not jump in the path of violent mantis-like thingies. That was just plain suicide. And then there was that flipping maneuver that Quilava had used. In other words, a get-the-freak-out maneuver for the last second.

Another thing? Bagon's childishness actually had some use.

_Depending on whether the other side is dumb enough to fall for it_…

* * *

The Mantis Pokemon hissed vigorously at Dark, who drew back, slightly repulsed at the sight of the walking insect.

"This isn't going to turn out well," Felix mused aloud. "And she doesn't exactly know it…

Hannah perked up at this. "What's _that _supposed to mean?"

Felix again yawned. "Besides the fact that it's bigger and has really sharp things on its arms, look at its color."

She looked.

And then she realized how easily the Scyther blended in with the surroundings, being such a perfect shade of green. "What-"

Then it hit her.

_Camouflage. _

"You can't hit what you can't see," Felix commented, yawning impassively all the while. "It's not like I _want _her to lose, or anything, but…"

By then, everyone was listening, but the implied statement was:

_She is so screwed. _

Alex didn't think it at all- In fact, now she had a tactic in mind. "Sand Attack!"

She was going for the "perpetual blindness" tactic that had so proved devastating in the last exchange of blows, but no such luck on this one.

"Get into the grass," Bugsy called, almost lazily, and the bug-type quickly complied, zooming into a rather thick patch, avoiding the spray of dirt long before it had even reached where it had been previously.

"Dark, use another-"

"Aerial Ace!"

"-Sand-"

By then, however, Dark had been already slammed and slashed into by the Scyther- Seeking revenge, she shouted in fury "Quick Attack!"

By the time the Evolution Pokemon had shaken its shock and pain off, however…

It looked around in confusion.

_What _was there to Quick Attack, exactly? The eyes of the Eevee, which were dark and normal colored like most of its kind unlike pretty much the rest of it, saw nothing at all. That's _exactly _how good the camouflage that Scythers had was.

"Swords Dance," Bugsy began in a sing-song fashion-

It was then that Alex noticed a rather discrete glow coming from a bush off to the left, and shouted "Sand Attack there!"

This time, the fox's aim was true- The spray blanketed that particular bush, which didn't do anything for rending the camouflage useless, but did cause the Mantis Pokemon to bound out of the bush, enraged at being sprayed… _Sand _at!

Alex had unconsciously saved herself from an early defeat- The Sword Dance here, unlike yesterday, hadn't finished in execution. But it didn't change the I'm-bigger-than-you fact of Scythers versus Eevees, and it certainly didn't change what would happen next:

"Scyther, X-Scissor!"

The Mantis Pokemon burst forward, arms crossed across its chest, while the scythes began glowing that same light green- Slightly scared of what was going to happen, Alex called "Get back! And use Sand Attack!" she added, thinking to break its concentration.

A noble effort.

A failure though, anyway.

Despite howling at the feeling of tiny, irritating grains in its eyes, it didn't stop- And Dark, quite frightened, backed away. Backing away, however, is never a good choice when you're on four legs, so invariably he fell over on right side.

Which meant his left side was open to the full force of the x-shaped strike.

It was only one hit, but this one hit was enough to knock out the Eevee. Scythers are Scythers, and those things on its arms were there for one reason- Making the opposition little more than sushi. Well, metaphorically, but the fox was more than far over the edge at this point.

Quickly, the one-sided referee called "Eevee… Or whatever its name was… is unable to battle. Please send out your last Pokemon…"

Then, half a second after that:

"Please, send out your next Pokemon or I will be forced to call a for-"

Too bad for him, because by then Alex had already sent Blaze out.

"…feit… Uh, anyway, Charmander versus Scyther, begin!"

Immediately Alex, steamed by the apparent stupidity of the referee, shouted "Ember!"

"Scyther, retreat!"

At Bugsy's cry, it turned and-

Not seeing where it was going at that point, it slammed- Hard- into a bush. It was mostly dumb luck that this bush hadn't been smashed down already from both yesterday and the day before, and that Bugsy hadn't bothered trimming this particular bush in last week's maintenance session. Either way, when it hit the bush, it both flattened it and stumbled over it, therefore falling on its stomach.

While that made it a smaller target, it didn't exactly help much, as the flames both arced over its body- And fell on it, enticing a yowl of pain from the previously unreachable and unhittable Mantis Pokemon…

"Keep going!" Alex crowed. "Dragon Rage!"

This time, the Charmander opened its mouth wider than before, an orange fireball gathering heat and size within its mouth-

"Scyther, get away!"

The insect didn't need telling twice- It quickly fled, before the fireball was launched. Even so, it still stumbled in its retreat by the shockwave that blasted outwards from the point of impact, barely ten feet away…

Bugsy was now silently cursing his bad luck- His prized Scyther was now in a state of half-blindness, and he had no way of clearing them without intervention on his part (Have you tried removing grains of sand out of your eyes with knives?)- And he was dealing with a fire-type.

Normally, it would be all well and good- He had other moves at his disposal.

But how was he going to miss half the time, it didn't seem to make much difference-

Then it hit him.

"Get into the bushes!"

Though the irritants in the eyes most certainly reduced the ability to see, the Scyther was still capable of spying out the nearest thicket; zooming over, before the next Ember could land, it land with crash of leaves into another thicket of grass.

"There!" Alex instantly cried, noticing a patch of "grass" that seemed a bit too darkened to be real- "Ember!"

That salvo of fireballs that issued from the Lizard Pokemon's mouth were once again avoided by pure luck as Bugsy called desperately- Not that he'd ever _show _or _admit _it- for it to run to another bush. As it sped away hissing in anger at not getting a moment in peace, Felix yawned again; he could see no way for Bugsy to win.

In addition to keeping both trainer and Pokemon on edge, Felix also noted that the places for hiding that the Scyther could hide in was dwindling all the while, going up- Literally- in smoke.

"What a boring battle," Felix mumbled before falling asleep.

* * *

**Again- Sorry it took so long, but life is indeed life. Don't fail me now, my faithful, though this chapter probably is sub-par... T_T**

**Remember to review... Please! With Porygon-Z's tail on top! **


	32. The author's note, V2

It's been a long time, huh?

**To those of you that are reading this for the first time** (I expect it, as this is going onto the front page) **I ask you to first read the chapters before this one before you read the rest of this author's note.**

To everyone else, who have already gotten a grasp on this story, or to the first-timers who have finished reading the first thirty chapters:

I am sorry.

I thought this summer would allow me to write with more freedom; I was wrong. I had an internship with Cisco Systems, and that ate 3 days a week. I was also burdened with community service hours, further cutting on my freedom.

The result- I only managed to start writing truly in the last week.

But alas, disaster struck.

The chapter I wished to upload disappeared. No it didn't. It just got lost in the process of completely rebooting the computer. Oh, the horror.

And it was 9000 words plus. How wonderful.

I will continue this. I'm guessing that I'll actually be more free during the school year than this summer (Which was actually pretty fun, if busy). But I am making no promises when this will be updated again.

Hang with me here. Or, just review and scream at me or whatever, I don't check my inbox.


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